The Rahi Warrior
by A Girl Named Ed
Summary: Average teenage human Kay gets booted onto Mata Nui. She has to find a bunch of artefacts in order to get home, with the help of everyone's favourite Toa, the Toa Nuva! A collaboration between me and my brother. Dead story because it's awful in hindsight.
1. Before Any of the Good Stuff

**Ed is back with a vengeance and a new story! Just so you know, Beauville is a parody of the name of my hometown. I'm writing this story as a collaboration with my little brother, who isn't on but wanted to help. He told me to put his name as 'PurpleBanana86' for some odd reason. If there's already someone with that pen name, please let me know. I can't figure out how to find out. /fail. Anyway, on with Chapter 1! I wrote this one by myself. Please review; that would make us very happy!**

Chapter 1: Before Any of the Good Stuff

I suppose I really should pay more attention to what I do.

Like, honestly, if I'd been paying more attention to what was going on, I don't think any of this would have happened at all. One minute, I'm hanging with my sister, the next...well, I'm getting ahead of myself. I suppose I should explain how I got into this in the first place.

My sister Amy and I are best friends. It doesn't matter that she's a year younger than me; we go everywhere, do everything, and talk about anything together. So it wasn't too much of a surprise when we walked into the jewellery shop together, but everyone was shocked–not least myself–when only Amy came out.

You know what, I probably should tell you what I look like. I have black hair...well, actually, it's brown, but I dye it. It's cut just above my shoulders and it's pin-straight. I never do anything with it; I'm too lazy. Amy, who has the same hair as me, always does something like pigtails or something with it. It's rarely the same. I just don't have time. My eyes are bright blue, and on that particular day, I was wearing faded jean shorts, a yellow tank top, and my old, worn-out sneakers. So now that you know what I look like, let's get on with it already.

Our cousin Josie had told us about this cool shop in downtown Beauville that sold cool vintage and antique stuff–clothes, furniture, decorations, and, my personal favourite, jewellery. I love accessories; you never see me without something, from leg warmers to bangles to rings to hair ribbons. While Amy was freaking out over a wedding dress from the late nineteenth century (which I will admit was pretty cool), I was checking out the jewellery in the front desk. Then a little old man came out. (For those of you who are manga fans, picture the Turtle Hermit from _Dragon Ball_, only without the shell and glasses. Seriously, he was even wearing a Hawaiian shirt.) I didn't see him come in; actually, I didn't notice him until he said, "Find anything you like?"

I must have jumped about a thousand feet or something, because Amy laughed at me. "Didn't you notice him, Kay? He's been there for about ten minutes now."

"I'm sorry, okay?" I snapped. "Hello," I said to the old guy. "I...I guess I really like that one." I pointed to a small silver ring with a blue stone set in it. "How much?"

"Twenty bucks."

"Seriously? That's awesome! I'll take it!" As he was pulling it out, I noticed something else. It was a pendant for a necklace, about the size of the palm of my hand. It was made of copper or something that looked a heck of a lot like it, and there were four circular symbols near the edge. But the most spectacular thing about it was the stone in the middle. It looked like some kind of crystal or something, but it seemed to keep changing colours: red to blue to green to black to brown to white and over again.

A cough caught my attention, and I realized the old man was waiting for me to pay him. "Sorry," I said, blushing. "I was just admiring the pendant." I pointed at it. "Maybe it's just the lighting in here, but the way it changes colours is so pretty. I probably can't afford it, though," I sighed, digging out my wallet. "After the ring, I've only got, like ten bucks left or something." I tried to take the ring from him, but he seemed frozen. He was staring at me like he'd seen a ghost or I'd grown an extra head or something. "Ahem," I said, tugging at the ring. Still he refused to let go. "Look, guy, I'm going to pay, so if you could just give me the ring already..."

"Kay, what's going on?" Amy asked from the changeroom.

"Nothing. You're not trying on that wedding dress, are you?"

"Don't be stupid. I found a Cheongsam dress that I wanted to try on, so I'm trying it on."

"You're so weird."

"Says the girl buying yet another ring."

"You can see it?"

That came from the old man. I looked at him; he was still staring at me like a startled fish. "See what?"

"The colours."

"No duh I can see them. It's not like they're subtle or anything."

He dropped the ring (I caught it before it smashed off the desk) and grabbed the pendant from under the glass case. "I knew it. I knew someone would come for it." He began to laugh almost maniacally, and I started backing away.

"Kay?" my sister called. "What's going on out there?"

"Sorry," the old man apologized. "It's just...no one's been able to see them for years...I thought I was the last one."

"Th-the last what?"

He thrust the pendant at me. "Take it." I automatically reached for my wallet, but he shook his head. "Just...hold it for a second."

"Kay?" Amy came out of the changeroom, dressed in a Chinese-style black dress. She'd even found those hair bun covering things and done her hair up. (Check out Miaka from _Fushigi Yuugi_ if you want a picture.) She stared as I took the pendant with a nervous glance at her. "What's that?"

I was about to say, "I have no idea," when there was a man's voice in my head. "You're here! Finally! I've been waiting forever! Quite literally, actually." Some kind of weird white misty stuff spiralled out from the crystal–which was also white at this time–and started wrapping around me.

"Wait, what–Amy!" I yelled, reaching for her. She ran to me, but by the time she was there, I wasn't.


	2. Welcome to Mata Nui

**Ed and PB86 here again! So I (Ed) was going to post this yesterday, but in a strange twist of irony, I _forgot_ my _memory _stick. Fail. So here it is. I'm kind of glad, too, because that gave me time to edit the parts that PB86 wrote. You know something? Everything could use more Kopaka. Seriously, in Mask of Light he had less than ten lines. We've made him kind of more talkative here, huh? Oh well. Please enjoy it and review! Also, thank you to those of you who have reviewed already!  
Oh yeah, I forgot the disclaimer for this story. I'll only say it once: neither of us own Bionicle. We also don't own anything we reference in here (and we reference a lot).**

Chapter 2: Welcome to Mata Nui

When the mist dissipated, I found myself in a snowy wasteland, still clutching the pendant, which I shoved in my pocket. There was a storm raging around me, and I was knee-deep in snow. I sneezed and rubbed my bare arms. _How did this happen?_ I thought. _It was that old man. He did something…what was he talking about, anyway? I'm the next what?_

It was getting colder by the second, so I decided to try to keep moving so I wouldn't freeze to death. Luck didn't seem to be on my side, because the more I trudged, the stronger the wind blew and the faster the snow fell. Finally, I tripped over my own frozen feet and couldn't get up. _Well, that's it,_ I thought. _I'm going to die._

I heard a noise over the wind—footsteps? Through my slightly foggy vision, I could make out a tall, white figure against the dark sky, but I couldn't make out any details. The part that I thought was a head cocked a little, and it knelt, probably to get a better look and see if I was dead.

"I-I'm n-n-n-not d-d-dead," I chattered. "H-help…"

Then I blacked out. The last thing I heard was the howling of the wind and the crunch of snow.

"Uuuhn…" I sat up and looked around. I was wrapped in blankets and next to a bonfire. The floor was rocky, almost cobblestoned, and there were several…things running around.

I'm not sure how to describe them. They were a little more than half my height, and they were definitely humanoid, but they were kind of robotic. They all wore masks (which for some reason moved when they talked so maybe they weren't masks?), and they were all white. Their hands and feet seemed too big for their bodies, making them seem kind of like little kids. Then one turned to me, and I saw surprise in the blue eyes behind the mask. "It's awake!" it called. They all turned to me and stared. I stared right back, pulling the blankets tighter. I'd thawed out, and I didn't think I was in danger of dying from pneumonia anytime soon, but I was still cold. It was also kind of instinctive; it sort of felt more protective that way, even though I knew it wasn't going to protect me against blackflies, much less a big horde of robots. It's like throwing your arms up to protect your face from a bucket of water; you're still going to get wet.

"I'll go get the Toa and Turaga!" one called, racing out of the room. I wanted to get up and follow him out of there, but my legs didn't seem to want to move. I didn't have time to wake up my feet, though, because a tall guy and a short guy came running in. They both seemed to have the same kind of buildup as the little guys. The tall one's mask had a weird-looking lens on it, covering one eye. He was wearing some kind of silver armour and carrying a giant staff and round, white shield. The shorter one was slightly taller than the other little things all over the place, and his hands and feet weren't oversized. His mask was somewhat square and the eye slits were narrow. He was being followed by another of the little guys with a round metallic-blue mask.

We sort of just looked at each other for a minute. Then I broke the silence. "Hi," I said tentatively, wiggling my fingers in a sort of wave. The tall one simply nodded and the short one gave a series of clicks and whistles.

"The Turaga says hello," the blue guy said. "This is Turaga Nuju and Toa Kopaka Nuva." The taller one, Kopaka, nodded again. "I'm Matoro," Matoro continued. "I'm the Turaga's translator."

"I…I see. I'm Kay."

Kopaka was regarding me with cold curiosity. "I had originally thought you were some form of Rahi I had never encountered, but then you spoke…and I found this on your person." He held up the pendant that I'd gotten from the old man.

Obviously, my brain was still half-frozen, because I wasn't freaking out that there were _a hundred little biomechanical robo-dudes running all over the place!_ "Oh, that…I got that from—hey, wait a minute! Did you go through my pockets? That's an invasion of personal privacy! Give that back!"

Everyone looked surprised, especially Kopaka, since he was the one I'd snapped at. "I merely wished to see if you had anything on you that could pose a threat. I have a village to protect, after all."

He was starting to remind me of Spock from _Star Trek_. "What, it was illogical to bring in something dangerous?" I half-joked.

"Precisely."

I had to resist the urge to strangle him, which wasn't hard, because I still couldn't stand up. "Okay, where am I, anyway?"

Nuju whistled. "This is the village of Ko-Koro," Matoro translated.

"I've never heard of it."

More clicks and whistles. Nuju was starting to make me think of R2-D2 from _Star Wars_. Great, now I'm mixing the two most famous science fictions of all time.

"The Turaga says that…wait, what?" Matoro looked confused. "With all due respect, Turaga, that doesn't make sense. There's no such thing as 'alternate dimensions.'"

I stared at Matoro. "Alternate _what_?"

"Dimensions. He said that you're from an alternate dimension and that you're the…what was it?" he asked with a look at Nuju, who clicked indignantly, obviously annoyed that Matoro had forgotten what he'd said. "The Rahi Warrior? What in the world…?"

While I was glad that I wasn't the only one who didn't know what was going on, I hated being in the dark. "What's a 'Rahi Warrior?' Better yet, what's a Rahi?"

Suddenly something smashed through the wall behind me. I turned to see a giant black, red, and silver monster with glowing red eyes growling at me. I screamed and tried to scuttle back. "Wh-what's that thing?"

"That," Kopaka said, stepping in front of me, "is a Rahi. A Kane-Ra Bull, to be exact."

A low, grating voice drifted into my head. _Help…don't want…destroy…_

"Wh-who said that?" I asked nervously, looking around. I was seriously hoping it was Kopaka or something.

The voice came again. _The mask…quickly!_

Feeling rushed back to my legs and I stood up and walked shakily over to the Kane-Ra. I could hear Nuju whistling and Kopaka shouting, but somehow I knew that it was what I was supposed to do. I reached towards its mask and…

It snarled and swiped at me. I screamed as it narrowly missed my arm with one of its claws and stumbled back. Kopaka grabbed me and threw me behind him. "It's wearing an infected mask," he said, as if that explained everything (which it didn't, by the way). He squared off with it again, this time attacking first. It swiped at him, but he jumped over the claw and kicked it in the side of the head. When that didn't dislodge the mask, he pointed his staff at it. Some kind of energy came out of it and wrapped around the Rahi, freezing it solid. I stared at Kopaka as he ripped the mask off the frozen creature and turned to me.

"Y-you…you just…"

He shrugged. "I'm the Toa of Ice. It's what I do."

"T-Toa? What's that?"

Everyone looked surprised again. I was starting to wonder if they knew how to feel anything else. "You really are from another dimension if you don't know what a Toa is!" Matoro said. "A Toa is a hero who can control an elemental power. Toa serve the Great Spirit Mata Nui, protect Matoran and other innocents, and honor the three virtues of Unity, Duty, and Destiny!"

I glanced up at Kopaka. I couldn't think of anything else to say but, "So are all Toa as tall as you?" Seriously, he had to be about seven feet or something. I suddenly felt short, and I'm five foot eleven.

His eye narrowed, and I think that was his version of the Spock Eyebrow. "Yes."

"God, I feel short." I sighed. "Next question…is that thing going to just stay here?" I asked, jabbing my finger at the frozen Kane-Ra.

"Until it thaws."

"It's freezing in here. It's not going to thaw out anytime soon."

Matoro smiled. "Well, it is Ko-Koro, the Village of Ice. Ko means 'ice,' by the way, and koro means 'village.'"

"Thanks for the update. Hey, where'd everyone go?" I'd just noticed that we were the only four left in the room.

"They left when the Rahi busted in."

"Well, more fire for me, then," I said, wiggling closer to the flame. Now that the Rahi had effectively busted a hole in the wall, it was even colder in the room. "So…what are Matoran, what's an infected mask, who's Mata Nui, what's a Turaga, and, for the million dollar question…what am I doing here?"

There was a very uncomfortable silence. Then Nuju clicked. "The Turaga is shocked that you don't know who Mata Nui is," Matoro translated. "Quite frankly, so am I."

"What, is he your, like, god or something?"

Matoro looked like he was going to launch into a long, complicated explanation, when Kopaka interrupted. "Yes." He had moved closer to the window and was leaning on the frozen Kane-Ra. "An infected mask is a mask that has been infected by the darkness, controlling the Rahi to do whatever its master wishes."

"Rahi means 'animal,'" Matoro added. "Literally, it means 'not us,' and it's just used to describe anything sentinent that's not a Matoran…with the exception of Toa, Turaga, and Mata Nui, of course."

"I take it you're all Matoran, then?" I gestured to the room, hoping that it conveyed the message of 'everyone that was here a few seconds ago.'

"That's right! What are you? If you're not a Rahi, and not a Matoran, and certainly not a Turaga or Toa, then I don't know what you could be…"

"Um, a human. I'm a human."

Kopaka cocked his head to the side. "Fascinating."

"If you make one more _Star Trek_ reference, then so help me…" I threatened.

"What's 'Star Trek?'"

"That settles it," I sighed. "If you don't know what _Star Trek_ is, I'm in an alternate universe. At least no one has a beard; that would be way too like 'Mirror Mirror' for me." I realised that I wasn't making any sense to them and sighed. "Never mind. So, Turaga? What is one?"

Clicks and whistles again. "Leaders of the Matoran and keepers of legends. Our particular group of Turaga likes to argue…" Matoro put his hands over his mouth and his eyes widened in shock. "I shouldn't have said that! Forget I said anything!" Nuju clicked a few times, and I got the impression that he was laughing.

"We still haven't answered the most important question," Kopaka interrupted. "Why is Kay here?"

Everyone looked at Nuju for an explanation. He sighed and clicked. "He says you're the 'Rahi Warrior,' but I've never heard of that," Matoro said.

"I have," Kopaka said. "It was on a tablet I read once. The Rahi Warrior is said to be a strong warrior from another land who has the power of the Rahi—can control them, use certain attributes of them, become one, speak with them, and so on."

I was about to say, "That's ridiculous," but I wasn't so sure. I mean, I was sure it had been the Kane-Ra's voice in my head earlier. "So you think—"

"Why, Brother Kopaka, I think that's the longest sentence I've ever heard you say!"

Kopaka tensed and almost winced slightly at the voice coming from the new window. A tall brown-and-tan figure with a mask that looked almost insect-like was crouching on the ledge of the opening, grinning broadly at Kopaka. He was carrying two big pieces of metal shaped like claws, further enhancing the 'big scary beetle' image. I looked at Matoro for an explanation. "That's Toa Pohatu Nuva, Kopaka's brother Toa of Stone."

"Just Pohatu, thanks," Pohatu said, looking at me. "Who's this?"

"Eh…I'm Kay."

Kopaka was still smarting over the 'longest sentence' remark, obviously, because he muttered something about "it's not like I never talk" before saying, "Turaga Nuju thinks that she's the Rahi Warrior."

Pohatu looked impressed. "Rahi Warrior? Cool! What's that?"

Kopaka folded his arms and refused to meet his brother's eyes. "I'm not explaining it again. Gather the other Toa and meet me at Kini-Nui. I'll explain there." Pohatu turned to go, when Kopaka said, "By the way, Brother…what were you doing in Ko-Wahi in the first place? You hate winter."

"No I don't."

"You said as much yourself."

"Whatever. I was chasing a Muaka and kind of got lost." The orange eyes behind the mask were sheepish. "Sorry. Can I warm up first?"

"No."

Pohatu sighed. "Cold-hearted as ever. Can't we all just be friends?"

"No."

"And we're back to short sentences again. Well, see you later!" He jumped out the window, and I heard a crash and an "Ow!" There was a pause, then an, "I'm okay!" drifted up, followed by a softer, "I hate winter."

Kopaka's mouth twitched in some semblance of a smile. Then it was gone and he picked me up. "Wh-whoa whoa whoa! Hold on a second! What are you doing?"

"Taking you to Kini-Nui."


	3. Meeting the Toa Nuva

**First of all, I want to say a big thank you to those of you who reviewed, and especially to The Rahkshi Writer for your constructive criticism. We always want more, so thanks once again to everybody!  
Okay, I just want to explain something. The reason that Kay keeps referring to Pohatu as Potato is an inside joke between the two of us. When PB86 was little, our dad would read him something before bed. He would often ask for a Bionicle book, and Dad had trouble pronouncing half the words, so he eventually started calling Pohatu Potato instead.  
And yes, we actually consulted both Bionicle Encyclopedias that we own for a lot of information. Aren't we so completely not nerdy? 3  
Okay, enough rambling. Please enjoy Chapter 3!**

Chapter 3: Meeting the Toa Nuva

Carrying me in his arms like you would a baby, Kopaka snapped his staff in half and swiftly attached one half to each of his feet, then jumped out the window with considerably more grace than Potato or whatever his name was had. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on as tight as I could as I screamed for my life. "Please stop screaming," he muttered, skiing down the mountain face.

"I have severe height-phobia!" I snapped. Then I made the mistake of looking ahead and seeing a jagged gorge ahead. "Wah! Look out; you're going to get us killed!"

He simply narrowed his eye, crouched, and, when we were getting uncomfortably close to the gorge's edge, extended his knees and leapt into the air. We flew across the gorge and he landed gracefully, speeding off again. I started to laugh, exhilarated. I'd jumped—well, Kopaka had jumped—over a giant hole of death and survived! Kopaka gave me a funny look, but said nothing, as per usual.

As we neared the bottom of the mountain, it started to get warmer and there was less and less snow. Finally, Kopaka had to stop. He dumped me on the ground and reassembled his staff.

"Gee, thanks!" I snapped, getting up and rubbing my bruised butt. "I could have broken something!"

He shrugged and picked me up again after strapping his staff to his back. His mask changed to the same shape as Pohatu's, but it was white. For once, I could see his other eye (gasp!). It wasn't too different from the other one. "Hold on," he said, and in an instant we were shooting by brown and green tufts. I wanted to ask if we were in a jungle or something, but I was afraid of having my face blown off by the G-force. After only a few seconds, we were at a large monument-style statue. It was huge, made of rocks, and covered in vines. It was shaped kind of like some sort of mask. To get to it, we'd crossed a long bridge, and we were standing on the circular dais at the end of the bridge, looking up at the monument.

"Wow," I said. "That's one big head."

"This is Kini-Nui," Kopaka explained. "It's a temple of worship for Mata Nui."

"No kidding," I said, impressed. "Is this him, then?" Kopaka pointed to the bridge.

More people that I assumed were Toa were drifting in. They were all about Kopaka and Pohatu's height, and each was a different colour. There was a red one, a blue one, a green one, and a black one. They all carried different weapons, too, all strapped to their backs. The red guy had a big staff that looked like two swords joined together and almost like they were on fire (gee, I wonder what his power was?), the blue guy had big axe thingies, the green guy had two smaller swords (sort of like katana), and the black guy had what looked like thin chainsaw things (I made a mental note not to anger him). They were talking to each other with varying degrees of animatedness when Pohatu burst in, dragging another guy with him. The new guy was gold and silver with a big staff (staffs seemed in style here) with a vertical scythe on the end. His mask looked like the big stone shrine mask. "Sorry we're late," Pohatu said, grinning. I got the feeling that his natural state was grinning. "Taka here is hard to track down."

The gold guy, Taka, waved sheepishly. "Eheh," was all he said.

I noticed that they were all guys and started to fear for my safety.

The red one glared at Kopaka. "Well, Brother?" he said impatiently. "You called us here; you start."

I hadn't realized I was hiding behind the Toa of Ice and stepped out. Everyone gasped. "Hi," I said, scratching the back of my head. "I'm Kay. According to Turaga Nuju, I'm the...what was it?" I asked Kopaka.

"Rahi Warrior."

Taka brightened. "Oh, I know what that is! That's the person who can do all that cool Rahi stuff, right? And shapeshift and speak Rahi and stuff like that, right?"

Kopaka tensed. I got the feeling he didn't like very many people there. "Yes, Takanuva, 'stuff like that,'" he muttered icily. (Well, he is the Toa of Ice, right?)

Taka (or was it Takanuva now?) rushed up to me. "Wow! You're really the Rahi Warrior? Awesome! My name is Takanuva, the Toa of Light, but most people call me Taka. So cool to meet you!" He said all this really fast, pumping my arm the whole time.

"Taka, how do you know about the Rahi Warrior?" the black guy asked. He had a deep, booming voice and looked friendly enough, but I still wouldn't want to be on the wrong end of the chainsaw things.

He propped one hand on his hip (the other hand still held the scythe) and pouted. "I used to be the Chronicler, remember? I know all this stuff! Plus, I love learning random stuff like this." Seeing the confused look on my face, he explained, "The Chronicler is a Matoran who writes down all the tales of the Toa and other important events on the Wall of History. I held the job for about twenty or thirty years, but now my friend Hahli has the job."

"Twenty or thirty? How old are you guys? I thought you were, like, twenty or something!"

"You kidding? I'm over a thousand!"

"How long do you people live?"

"A long time. How old are you?"

"I'm seventeen."

"Really? I thought you were, like, forty or something."

I turned to Kopaka. "Murder him for me."

"It was a compliment!" Taka whined, but he quickly retreated behind Pohatu anyway.

"And I still don't know who all of you are! Seriously, introduce yourselves or something!"

The red one looked like he was about to explode at me, but the blue one stepped in front and held out an arm, holding him back. "Of course, how rude of us." The voice was female, and I relaxed slightly. "I'm Gali Nuva, Toa of Water. I see you've already met Brother Kopaka," she added with a gesture at the Toa of Ice next to me, who nodded.

"I'm Onua," the black guy said, waving. "Toa Nuva of Earth."

The red one had finally calmed down a little (I guess my ordering him to introduce himself really bugged him), but he was still annoyed, because he introduced himself as "Toa Tahu Nuva, Toa of Fire" rather sharply. I thought I heard Kopaka mutter something like, "Toa of Hot Air, more like," but I could have been mistaken.

That left the green guy. He beamed at me. "Lewa Nuva, your friendly neighbour-koro Toa-Man of Air!" He backflipped onto a rock and did a handstand, still grinning at me.

I had to ask. "Do you swing from a thread?"

His smile faltered a little. "Do vines count?"

"Sure, we'll say they do. Do you catch thieves just like flies?"

"Okay, seriously, what are you babble-talking about?" he asked.

"She's from another universe, so she doesn't make much sense; just ignore her," Kopaka sighed.

"Hey, you guys are the ones who don't make sense! How do you not know about Spider-Man?" I rolled my eyes and folded my arms defiantly.

"Right. Anyway, you remember me, right?" Pohatu asked, grinning again and waving one of his claws at me.

"Oh, yeah, Mr. Potato Head," I said innocently, and Pohatu stopped smiling.

"What?"

"Uh, never mind. So why am I here again?" I said, quick to change the subject.

Takanuva clapped his hands together. "Well," he began, and I got the feeling that there was a lot more coming, but Tahu stepped in before Taka said anything else.

"Why don't we consult Turaga Vakama about that? He's a better storyteller than Taka, anyway," he added under his breath.

"Tahu!" Gali scolded, and Tahu tried his best to look innocent. It didn't work, so he changed to grinning naughtily. And yes, he did that with a mask on.

Kopaka went to scoop me up, but I danced a step out of his reach. "Oh, no," I said. "I'm _not_ going through that again. Last time I almost—"

I would have complained longer and in _excruciating detail _about my previous discomfort, but Pohatu ambushed me from behind and swept me up in his arms. In seconds we were off like a shot, Pohatu's feet moving faster than the eye could follow. It seemed like we were floating above the ground. My mouth had been open when we had taken off, and now my lips were rippling like a cartoon character. Pohatu, wearing a mask, didn't care one bit.

In a few seconds (which was good, because I couldn't have lasted much longer), we stopped amidst a thick jungle. As soon as we stopped, I felt Pohatu sink slightly into the ground. My heart attempted a jailbreak through my throat, but we stopped sinking almost immediately.

"Swampy area. It is Le-Koro, after all. It's Lewa's home koro." Pohatu told me calmly, not out of breath in the slightest.

I looked around. All I could see was swamp, swamp, and mud. "Wonderful village he's got here," I said sarcastically.

"Well, it's not actually in the swamp." He pointed up, and, following his pointing, I saw a tree house.

There was a silence for a moment. Then I said, "Again, wonderful village he's got here."

"No, the bulk of the village is over there." Pohatu pointed again, and I looked to see a huge collection of tree houses, all strung on vines that latticed from tree to tree. Small green Matoran dudes scampered about willy-nilly on the lattice, climbing on the ropes only, and none of the holes. These guys were acrobats. But WOW! A village! Floating in the air! (Must stress that part.) A few stray tree houses littered the trees themselves, but most of the tree houses were on the lattice.

I spotted a large tent on the lattice. It was made of red cloth, and was about thirty times as big as one of the tree huts. I turned to ask Pohatu a question when I saw his mask changing shape. Whenever I see that, it just freaks me right out. It looks like their face is melting. (Think the final scene in _Raiders of the Lost Ark_ when the Ark is opened and the bad guys' faces melt off, but melting into a different shape. And no, their heads do not explode.) When it settled on its new form, it looked just like the one Lewa had been wearing. We started running again, although I didn't know why. Pohatu jumped into the air, and my heart pounded against my throat again, determined to escape.

Then we began to fly.

My heart decided that not only it was going to break for freedom, but also my gut, stomach, and gall bladder would join the fray.

I realized I was screaming and clamped my mouth shut.

Pohatu blinked frantically. "Please don't," he said quietly.

It wasn't so much flying, per se. It was more just levitation. We went straight up, Pohatu's form not wobbling a bit. I felt like I was going to fall to my death and go boom all over their nice clean swamp. (Remember, severe height-phobia here.)

We floated up and over the lattice, then landed gently on top of it. A green dude nearby jumped in surprise. I waved happily. He ran away. I have that kind of effect on people.

I suddenly realized Pohatu was still holding me, so I pointed at the ground. He looked down, then realized what I meant. He put me down.

The other Toa stood between two tree huts, which, upon closer inspection, appeared to be made of vines and wood.

"Hi," I said.

"Hello, Kay! Welcome to my village of Le-Koro! Isn't it amazing? We fly Gukkos, and go vineswinging deepwood, and have fun here! Enjoy your time here!" Lewa jumped forward and began waving his arms frantically like there was a bee trying to sting his head.

"Tell me, what's your IQ?" I said.

"No, I Lewa. You Kay." Lewa thought I was making a joke, and decided to joke along with me. In my opinion, it was too much like Tarzan for my tastes.

"This way. The Turaga is with the other Ta-Matoran." Tahu whirled on the spot and everyone followed him, but I tapped Gali on the shoulder before she went too far.

"So, who's this Turaga Vakama guy?" I asked.

"Turaga Vakama is the Turaga of Ta-Koro, and the best storyteller the island has ever had," Gali said in a sentence that told me quite a bit: one, this Turaga guy was a good storyteller, two, the Turaga was from Ta-Koro, and not Le-Koro like I had thought, and three, it was an island I was on. I was kind of wondering about that. Which brought me to my next question:

"What's this island called?"

Gali looked at me like I had grown a second head. "Mata Nui, of course. It's named for our Great Spirit, Mata Nui."

"Oh." And so Gali and I walked into the big red tent.


	4. Storytime With Turaga Matau?

**Once again, thank you to our reviewers! Please enjoy the next chapter! (Ed's a bit pressed for time so the note's short today)**

Chapter 4: Storytime With Turaga...Matau?

As I entered the tent thing, I saw tons—like _lots_—of little red Matoran scurrying around everywhere. The tent was full up; there was barely room for a fire pit and cafeteria corner. I saw another corner that, for some odd reason, wasn't being used. It had a thin curved barrier of stones in front of it, and the corner was a sand pit.

"Aha! There's the Turaga!" Tahu said, and began walking over to an old-looking somewhat hunched red guy who looked kind of like Turaga Nuju, but his mask was elongated at the bottom. Thoughts of Nuju made me wonder if this Turaga guy had a translator too, or if that was just a Nuju-specific feature.

Beside the red guy, who I assumed was Turaga Vakama, was a green man about the same height as Vakama. While I noticed that Vakama held a stick with some kind of torch thing on the end, the green guy held a buzz saw on a stick.

"Turaga!" Tahu said to Vakama, who looked up at him.

"Ah, hello, Tahu. Nice to see you. Come to help fix dinner? We're having roasted Gukko. Again."

"Um...No...not really..." Tahu said, glancing at the other Toa.

"You never help with cooking anymore. I offered to let you help cook the Tarakava on Naming Day, but noooooo...the great Tahu has better things to do than help his people cook."

"Um, actually, I do. I mean, really, last time I offered to help, I burned everything, including the kitchen, to a crisp. I was really lucky that Naming Day was held in Ga-Koro that year, or Nuhrii might be dead right now."

I decided I didn't want to know.

"But that's not the point! See, we want you to..."

"Cook?"

"No...actually, we want you to tell us the story of the Rahi Warrior."

Vakama looked confused (yes, even through his mask). "Why?"

He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at me. "We think we've found her."

Vakama and his green counterpart leaned over to see behind Tahu and see me. I waved happily. Surprisingly, they didn't run away.

"Ooh! A human!" The green man ran forward and shook my hand. "I'm Matau! I'm the Turaga of Le-Koro!" He turned to Vakama. "Can I tell this story? Puh-leeeeze?"

Everyone looked at each other nervously, but Matau pressed onwards. "You always tell the story, Vakama. It's my turn! Besides, I know this one really well."

Vakama sighed. "All right, fine. But stick to the original story, okay?"

"Don't worry, this is exactly how I heard it!" His smile faltered a little. "Sort of."

I started to worry.

"Okay, so there was this guy and he had this thing and it was all shiny and OMGS—"

"OMGS?" I interrupted sceptically.

"Oh My Great Spirit," sighed Gali. "I wish he'd stop trying to act like a young Matoran; he's over 3000 years old."

I gaped. "WHAT 3000?" Then I realized what that had sounded like and facepalmed.

"_ANYWAY_," said Matau insistently while Vakama whacked himself on the head with his torch thing, obviously regretting letting his friend tell the story, "he was all like OMGS I have a sword and we were all like OMGS he's got a stick and then he was like RAHI ARE EPIC SUPER DUPER and then the Rahi read books and we were all like WHOA THEY READ STUFF and then he exploded."

We all looked at him like _he_ had just exploded, except with more 'WTF was that' and less 'oh noes he's dead.'

"I think that's how it went, anyway. Or were there more OMGS's?" Matau said.

"This," Tahu said impatiently, "is why we asked _Vakama_ to tell the story."

Matau sighed. "Some people have no taste," he said sadly as he walked out of the tent.

"Follow me," Vakama said, heading for the sandbox. "We've set up a makeshift storytelling corner over here." He started setting up rocks.

"What are the rocks for?" I asked.

"They represent the people and things in the stories. What, don't people use these in your world?"

He seemed to already know about the whole 'alternate dimensions' thing. "Er, no, we usually just read the stories out of books."

"Hmph. This way is better." Everyone had gathered around by this point, including a couple of red Matoran. "In the time before time...wait, wrong story. In the time after the time before time..."

"_The Land Before Time_? Isn't that a cheesy movie about dinosaurs?" I got the OMG-you've-got-two-heads look again. I was starting to get used to it.

"Anyway, in that time, there was a group of Toa called the Toa Ihar. These Toa believed that not only Matoran, but also Rahi should be protected. Eventually, the Toa Ihar were defeated by an unknown force of darkness, and each was sealed into an artefact. There was the Ring, the Stone, the Gem, the Anklet, the Bracelet, and the Pendant."

I had a little 'aha' moment. "Kopaka, where's that round thing you took off me?" Vakama looked annoyed at having his story interrupted again, but his eyes widened when Kopaka produced the pendant. "Does the Pendant look like this?" I asked, taking it from him.

Vakama nodded. "That's it...! If you had this, you must be the Rahi Warrior!"

"Well, keep going with the story; I want to know how this whole thing came to be."

"Right. The leader of the Toa Ihar was named Kahiki, and he was a Toa of Fire. He wore the Kanohi Drihon, the Great Mask of Transport, which could take the user to any place in the known universe and between dimensions. Fortunately, Kahiki was still able to retain some of his powers while sealed inside the Pendant, and it's said that he went from place to place, looking for someone who could sense him. If the person could see the colours flashing in the pendant, representing the six elements, then that person could become the Rahi Warrior. Eventually, he found someone."

I interrupted yet again. "I was talking to someone about it, sort of. Has there been more than one Rahi Warrior?"

"Sort of; apparently Kahiki often would find someone who could see the colours, but it would turn out that he or she merely had a heightened sixth sense, and was not compatible with him, therefore he couldn't take them to our universe." I nodded and he started randomly shoving stones around again. "According to legend, there have been about three, but no one really knows how many."

"I do," a voice piped up. I looked around to see who it was, but no one seemed to be talking. "Down here," it said. I looked at my hand and saw that the Pendant was glowing slightly. "About time. I'm Toa Kahiki."

"Um, the Pendant's talking to me," I said. "Should it be talking to me?"

"I don't know," Vakama said. "I've never actually met a Rahi Warrior before, so you might just be going crazy."

"That's comforting." I looked at the Pendant again. "So you're Kahiki, huh?"

"That's me!" he said happily.

"Yup, it's Kahiki," I confirmed. "Can anyone else hear him?" Silence. "Great. So tell me, Kahiki, what am I supposed to do as 'Rahi Warrior?'"

"Well, you have to collect the rest of the artefacts—"

"What does that have to do with Rahi?"

"Nothing, but it has everything to do with the Toa Ihar. The Rahi Warrior is only called that because by using the powers of each artefact, and subsequently the Toa inside, you can gain the powers of Rahi. For example, my mask power gives the teleportation power of a Fader Bull, and the Pendant's power gives the strength of a Muaka."

"I'm sure that made sense to you."

"Well, to make a long story short, there've been three potential Warriors, but none of them ever came through. You're the first one I've ever found. If you get all six artefacts and the Rahi Blade, then we can live again."

"So where are these artefacts?"

"They should be scattered across Mata Nui. Originally, I was here too, but I managed to get out using my mask power. The one who did this to us wanted to leave us on an uninhabited island, and at the time, Mata Nui was a perfect candidate. There's one in every region: Ko-Wahi, Po-Wahi, Ga-Wahi, Le-Wahi, and Onu-Wahi. There isn't one in Ta-Wahi because that's where I was, and now I'm here. I have no idea where the Rahi Blade is, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"And why do I need to get these again?"

"Because if you gather all six and the Rahi Blade, there's a way to release us from our prisons. You're the only one who can. And if you do it, I'll take you home."

There was silence for a bit while I thought it over. I didn't seem to have much of a choice. Then I said, "What about the Turtle Hermit?"

"Who?"

"The old guy in the shop. Who was he?"

"He was one of the people who could see the colours; he could also hear my voice. The problem was, we weren't compatible enough for me to take him to Mata Nui, and he was also really old, so I didn't want to risk him dying on me. Herb—that's his name, Herb—agreed to hold onto the Pendant until someone came who could see the colours. There was one person between the two of you."

"Good to know. Thanks, Kahiki, I'll pass that along."

"Pass what along?" Pohatu asked. Everyone had been staring intently at me while I talked to the trapped Toa, and it was more than a little unnerving to have all these glowing eyes watching me all the time. I told them what Kahiki had said, and the Toa of Stone whistled. "Heavy."

"Tell me about it."

"Vakama," Gali said, "do you know where these artefacts could be?"

He shook his head. "I've never seen any of those things...except for stones. There are lots of those in Po-Wahi."

I was starting to understand some of the things people said. 'Po' was stone, 'Ga' was water, 'Le' was air, 'Ta' was fire, and 'Onu' was earth. I'd figured those out because if 'Ko' was ice and Kopaka's name started with Ko, that probably meant that the first syllable of Tahu's name probably meant fire, and so on. 'Wahi' had something to do with an area, but I wasn't entirely sure. And there was something about Taka's name starting with 'Ta'...shouldn't that make him a Toa of Fire? I mean, the other Toa's names all started with the word that meant their element, so shouldn't his have also? My head was starting to hurt from all the thinking and the squabbling that had started about where different artefacts could be when suddenly Taka piped up, "I know where the Ring is!"

Everyone stared at him as he grinned broadly. "Or something similar, anyway. It's said that there's this big monster that lives somewhere in the tunnels of Onu-Wahi, and it guards a special ring. That could be the Ring you're looking for."

They all looked at me, waiting for me to make a decision. I glanced at Kahiki. "Hey, Flame Brain. If I do this, you'll take me home, right?"

There was a pause, then he said, "If you stop calling me Flame Brain, then yes."

I looked up at the assembled Toa and Turaga and shrugged. "Well, it's worth a shot, I guess."


	5. OnuWahi

**We're back! You know, it's amazing how many words are apparently spelled wrong according to Word. It's sad, really.  
So come summer vacation, we won't be updating as frequently because Ed may have a job and PB86 won't have access to the story or the internet without her. We're really sorry!  
Thanks to people who review and added us to their story watch! Please continue to do so! Constructive criticism is always appreciated. XD**

Chapter 5: Onu-Wahi

I've come to the conclusion that Takanuva is a really annoying travelling companion. Everyone decided that since he knew approximately where the Ring was, he should come with me. I agreed. I mean, it just made sense. Knowing me, I'd probably get lost before I even got to Onu-Wahi. But he wouldn't. Stop. Talking. Eventually, I had to threaten to ask Kopaka to murder him again. That made him shut up for a bit.

Then there was Kongu. As Taka and I were leaving Le-Koro, a little green Matoran (I later learned that the Matoran were all referred to by where they lived; i.e. a Matoran from Onu-Koro was called an Onu-Matoran, making him a Le-Matoran) approached us tentatively. He introduced himself as Kongu, and I recognised him as the Le-Matoran who had run off when Pohatu and I arrived. He asked if we could use a 'wayfinder' (navigator—these Le-Matoran talk funny). Taka was eager to accept his help, since apparently the last time he was in Le-Wahi he got hopelessly lost and Lewa had to bail him out. (Thanks for telling me this _before_ I said you could come with me, Taka. Baka baka Taka.) He looked a little nervous when we told him we were going underground, but he set his shoulders and said, and I quote, "I can handle any fright-scary Rahi-beast that comes at us!" Five minutes later he was hiding behind my legs because he'd heard a 'fright-scary noise' (Taka's footsteps). It was pretty funny, actually.

It was during the quiet period that we met Nuparu. He was a little Onu-Matoran with an orange mask running around in the dark, and I kind of tripped over him. Even though Taka was glowing (he's the Toa of Light, after all), it was still really hard to see in there.

"S-sorry," I apologised, helping him up. "I didn't see you."

"That's okay," he said brightly. Then he seemed to notice who I was travelling with. "T-Toa Takanuva...! Hello! Oh, and Kongu! What's a Le-Matoran doing underground with the Toa of Light and a..." He looked up at me again. "A talking Rahi?"

I scowled. "Why does everyone seem to think I'm a Rahi? I'm Kay."

"Oh, right, I think I heard something about that from Turaga Whenua."

_Wow, news travels fast on this island,_ I thought.

"Nuparu, have you heard of a monster that guards some kind of artefact?" Kongu asked his friend.

The Onu-Matoran thought about it for a minute. "Well, there was some kind of ruined shrine deeper in the tunnels that way." He pointed the way he'd come. "As for a monster, I'm not really sure what you'd classify as a monster. I did see a rather large Rahi prowling around there, but I'd be more apt to refer to a Bohrok as a monster..."

"Um, just the facts, please, Nuparu," Taka said hastily. "He'll go on analysing everything all day if you let him," he muttered to me. "Can you take us to it?"

"I'd be honoured!" he said brightly. "Follow me! I think it's only a ten-minute walk from here!"

We followed him through a bunch of tunnels, each seemingly darker than the last. A couple of glowing orange bugs scuttled in front of us, but they were the only signs of life we saw the entire way there.

After about half an hour, we arrived in a large clearing of a cave. It had a much higher roof then the tunnels we had just trekked through. A shaft of light came through a small hole in the ceiling to fall cheesily on a pile of rubble in the middle of the room that seemed to have been crudely dashed to pieces and left in a heap. Nuparu rushed over to it and began to take closer looks from various angles. He turned back to us and straightened to his full height, which was still pretty short.

"It's been destroyed," he said proudly.

"Congratulations, we never knew that. It's not _obvious _or anything," I said sarcastically. Nuparu looked hurt and stalked over to the corner to sulk.

"The big question is, what did this? And is it still here?" Taka asked, making his own observations. "See here, claw marks." He pointed to a block of stone with deep gouges, three complete ones and a partial one where the stone had been sheared off.

"Probably a clawed Rahi," Nuparu said quietly.

"Yes, obviously," I said. Nuparu went back to sulking. Kongu went over to console him.

"You could be a little good-nicer to him, you know," Kongu said.

"I could, but I'm in a really bad mood right now. I've just been dragged from the home I know and love to this madhouse of an island where people are robots, I'm apparently some kind of animal, and I'm being dragged around by jewellery to find a bunch more jewellery to go home! I have every right to be in a bad mood!" I snapped angrily.

"And now there's a GIANT EVIL RAHI-BEAST WHO'S GOING TO EAT OUR FACES OFF RUNNING AT US!" Kongu screamed.

I looked down the tunnels, and sure enough, a huge bipedal monster of a Rahi was roaring down the tunnels, saliva dripping from its huge shark teeth. It busted into the cavern, crumbling half the doorway in the process. Its triangular head had two horns spiralling out of the two corners, and the third corner, which was closest to its mouth, was occupied by two huge dilating nostrils. Its shoulders were like half a cow each, and its legs were the other halves. Upon closer inspection, it had no eyes, but enormous bat ears directly under its horns. Steak knives tipped its fingers.

"I-is this the big monster Rahi you were talking about, Nuparu?" I asked, backing away as fast as I could.

"Th-that's it!" he shrieked. "It could also possibly be the thing that destroyed the shrine!"

Takanuva held his ground and pointed his staff at the monster. "Okay, I don't know what you are, but you're in for it now!" A beam of light, almost a laser, shot out the end of the staff. If the thing hadn't dodged at the last minute, it would have been a pile of dead Rahi on the ground. But it did dodge, and continued running. Taka grunted and fired the laser again and again, finally having to somersault out of the way of the stampeding animal.

It was heading straight for me. I screamed and tried to run, but I tripped and landed on my face. I grabbed at the pendant in my pocket. "Okay, Kahiki, you said I have teleporting powers? Well MAKE WITH THE TELEPORTING ALREADY!"

The next thing I knew, I was standing behind the Rahi, which, having missed me, had ploughed headfirst into a wall. I glanced at the pendant. "Thanks, man. You have to teach me that at some point." He didn't answer. "Fine, don't talk to me. Jerk."

During this exchange (well, not really), the monster had turned and was pawing the ground and snorting. It was almost like a giant bull. A really evil giant bull. Then I noticed something.

"Taka, its mask is infected!" I was sure it was; there was a sickly green glow to the mask it wore on its chest.

"I see it!" Taka yelled, running at it, swinging his staff again. The beast simply ignored him again and charged at me. This time, I tried to concentrate on where I wanted to go, and to my surprise, it worked. While the Rahi was looking around to see where I'd gone, I was materializing next to a very shocked Takanuva. "Hey, how did you—"

"Long story. Look, it's obviously focused on me, so I'll distract it while you blast its mask off."

He gripped his staff and nodded. "Are you sure? That's kind of a lot to ask of someone who doesn't even want to be here."

I clenched my jaw and nodded. "I'm sure."

He nodded again. "Okay then." He ran over to a place where he could get a good shot and I started waving my arms around.

"Hey! Beefsteak! Nin-cow-poop!" Okay, so maybe I stole that last one from Bugs Bunny. So sue me. "I'm over here, you dope!"

That got its attention. Whether or not that's a good thing I wasn't sure. It snorted again and charged. "Now, Taka!" I shouted, teleporting for a third time. The beast skidded to a stop and looked over at Takanuva as he fired once again at the mask. This time it hit, and the mask clattered to the floor.

We all held our breath. Had it worked?

Then I heard a low voice in my head. _Where...am I?_

I let my breath out. "I think it worked, guys," I said. Kongu and Nuparu, who were clutching each other in the corner, visibly relaxed, and Taka nodded gratefully. I turned to the monstrous Rahi. "This is what we believe used to be some kind of shrine. I'm Kay. Wha—er, who are you?" I was about to say 'what are you' but I decided that would be rude, and angering a giant rampaging bull with huge claws was probably a bad idea.

_I am the Guardian,_ it said. _I was here, and then suddenly...some kind of small creature fitted me with that mask. It forced me to destroy the shrine, then...after that, I really can't remember._

"Then you tried to destroy me," I told it. "Listen, is there a ring or something that you're guarding?"

_A ring...? No, I have a bracelet that I am to guard. The Master gave it to me and told me not to give it to anyone except the Rahi Warrior._ It pointed to its neck, and I could see a collar with a large bangle-style bracelet hanging from it. _Are you the Rahi Warrior?_

I shrugged. "So everyone keeps telling me."

_Is it your destiny? Written in the stars?_

"I really wouldn't know." Personally, I'd never been one to believe in destiny. That was Amy's thing. I don't even read my horoscope in the paper.

"Um, Kay?" I looked up to see my three companions watching me. "What's it saying?" Nuparu asked.

I filled them in; then the Guardian interrupted me. _You wear the Pendant, you converse with me...these are clear signs._

"Great, so you'll give me the Bracelet then?"

_No...first I must test your resolve._ It rose onto its back legs and roared. _Fight me!_

Taka rushed in front of me. "Kay, get back!"

"No." I pushed him away, my eyes hardening in resolve. "I have to do this myself."

"But—"

I balled my hands into fists and took a fighting stance. "I can do this," I assured him—and myself. Apparently, I did a better job of convincing him than I did myself, because he nodded and backed off.

The Guardian roared again and started to swipe at me. My resolve dissolved and I ran around screaming as it chased me, shrieking at me to turn and fight.

"Kay! The Rahi Pendant gives you the strength of a Muaka!" I heard Kahiki yell over the Guardian's titanic roar. I briefly recalled Kahiki mentioning something about that before, but I hadn't dwell on it at the time. I decided to try it out.

I turned around and charged back at the Guardian. It seemed surprised that I was changing tactics, and slashed with its claws three seconds after I had dodged through its legs. I flipped around to face the Guardian, and grabbed its tail. Its movement halted abruptly, and the Guardian stumbled and fell flat on its face. Adrenaline pumped through me, and without thinking I started swinging the Guardian around by the tail (in hindsight, it's kind of like in _Super Mario 64_, where you have to swing Bowser into random bombs).

I rapidly began shifting my feet to follow my swings, and I saw Kongu and Nuparu watching awestruck at my newfound strength. The Guardian was too stunned to even struggle back. I let go, and the Guardian went sailing through the air, directly at Kongu. Poor Kongu. He flattened himself flat against the ground, and the Guardian missed him with three centimetres to spare.

The Guardian careened into the cave wall, and the whole room shuddered. The Guardian was stuffed into the wall, buried up to his neck in dirt. The Matoran scrambled away as it shoved its paws against the wall and pushed hard. It popped back out, its head coated in soil, then spat some dirt out of its mouth and sniffed the air. It seemed to be following a scent (well, he had no eyes, after all), and the scent led it to me.

_You are strong. Too strong. Did you cheat?_ it snarled at me.

"Um...no?"

_I'll buy that. Here is the Bracelet. _It snapped the chain that connected the Bracelet to the collar around its neck, and tossed the artefact at my feet. I picked it up, and slipped it over my hand onto my wrist. I couldn't help breaking into a huge grin.

"Number One! That's only four more until I can go home!" I began my patented 'Happy Dance': I dance around in small circles pumping my fists in the air.

"And then there's the Rahi Blade..." Nuparu said, putting a damper on my celebrations.

"Well, like Kahiki said, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," I shrugged, feeling the Bracelet slide on my arm. I turned back to the Guardian. "Thank you, Guardian. Do you know where we can find the others?"

It thought for a long minute. Finally, it said, _I believe the Master hid one in an underwater cave. That is the only one I know of. I'm sorry._

"Don't apologise; you've been a great help. Thanks again." I turned to my companions. "Well, shall we? Nuparu, can you get us out of here?"

He nodded happily. "No problem! This way!" He scampered off in the direction from which we'd come, with Takanuva and Kongu hot on his tail.

With a final wave at the Guardian, I jogged off after them. "Wait, you dorks! I can't run that fast!"


	6. Superpowers

**Ed: We're baaaaaaaaack! Sorry it took so long to get this up, but circumstances beyond our control...and some laziness...well, you know how it is.  
PB86: Luckily, to compensate, the seventh chapter should be finished..in a day or 17.  
Ed: It's summer vacation, so we might be posting less often but writing more often. In other words, we may post up multiple chapters at a time. And no, we won't be abandoning this story...on purpose...anytime soon.  
PB86: EXCUSE ME? more like not at all! :( (laughter abounds)  
Ed: Okaaaaaay...anyway, please enjoy the sixth chapter. Reviews and constructive critisism are welcome as always! (wink wink nudge nudge saynomore)  
PB86: I tried to make the lines funny for everybody!  
Ed: Yes, yes, you did that. Now on with the show!**

Chapter 6: Superpowers

"What kinds of powers does the Bracelet give you?" Taka asked excitedly as we followed Nuparu.

"I don't know," I admitted, looking down at my newest accessory. "I'll ask. Hey, Kahiki," I said, digging the Pendant out of my pocket again. "What does the Bracelet do?"

"Absolutely nothing."

I stared. "You're kidding."

"Nope. You have to awaken the Toa inside first. If memory serves, Toa Onako should be in the Bracelet. He's the Toa Ihar of Earth. He had the Kanohi Akolibal, the Great Mask of Tongues, which allowed him to speak any language, including Rahi languages. The Bracelet itself should give you the speed of a Kane-Ra Bull."

I explained this to Taka, then went back to Kahiki. The whole business of having to tell everyone what Kahiki was saying was starting to get annoying. "Two questions. One, how do I awaken Onako, and two, how come you didn't need to be awaked?"

"I'm not really sure how you awaken him," the Toa admitted. "Something to do with the earth, I would imagine..."

I thought of something I'd seen on _World of Quest_ one time: they had to get the Earth Sword to work, so they stuck it in the earth. "No, it couldn't be that simple," I muttered. But I got everyone to stop for a minute anyway, dug a hole, and stuck my wrist with the Bracelet on it into it. Hey, I was desperate.

Nothing happened for a few seconds. I sighed and was about to say something witty, when suddenly the Bracelet started to glow. I yelped and pulled it out of the hole. It wasn't clear and colourless anymore; it had changed to black. There was another voice in my head, slightly deeper than Kahiki's. "What the...what happened?"

"Brother! It's good to hear from you again!" Kahiki said happily.

"Kahiki? Where are you? I can't see anything..."

While Kahiki filled Onako (I assumed it was Onako) in, I stood up and grinned at 'the boys,' as I'd started calling them. "It worked...! I hadn't thought it would, since it was so obvious, but it did!"

"Sometimes, the most obvious path is the right one," Taka said wisely. I raised an eyebrow at him and he shrugged. "I read it on a carving somewhere. Let's keep going."

I followed, shaking the Pendant to get Kahiki's attention. "Hey, Matchstick. You never told me why you didn't need to be awakened."

"That's because I really don't know. Maybe I wasn't sealed completely, or I was dropped in fire and awakened already, but I'll never know. Convenient, no?"

I frowned. "A little _too _convenient, if you ask me."

"Oh, don't think so much. Like your boyfriend said, 'sometimes the most obvious path is the right one.'"

I shrieked with laughter. "Boyfriend? Don't be ridiculous!" The boys looked at me funny, but I guess they'd figured that if it looked like I was talking to myself, I was usually talking to Kahiki.

"Hey, Kahiki, who else is there?"

"I'm Kay," I told the Toa of Earth. "You're Pinako, right?"

"That's Onako," he sighed. "Who exactly are you?"

"I told you, I'm Kay. Well, my full name is Kayla, but I go by Kay. And I'm the one who's going to get you out of that little bracelet."

"We're here!"

I looked up to see an exit to the outside world ahead. The sudden light almost blinded me, and I squinted at Nuparu. "Thanks a lot, man. I owe you."

"Well, you'll have plenty of time to pay me back," he replied, shielding his eyes against the light as he walked, "because I'm coming with you."

"What?" I wasn't against Nuparu coming with us, I just hadn't been expecting it.

"Toa Takanuva said it was okay!"

"All right, all right. You can come. Let's just get out of here."

We trekked up to the light, and Taka shivered a little. "Whew...! I've got nothing against Onu-Wahi, but Mata Nui it's good to be back in the light!"

I'd noticed that Taka had been even more fidgety than usual while we were wandering around in the tunnels and felt guilty for not saying anything. "You don't like the dark...?"

He laughed. "I'm the Toa of Light, remember? Of course I prefer being out in the sun! So, where are we going, oh wise Kay?" I could totally tell he was teasing me, so I elbowed him. Big mistake; he was wearing really hard armour and it hurt me more than him.

"The Guardian said there was something in an underwater cave, so probably to the coastline. I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest Ga-Koro?"

Taka clapped his hands together. "Ga-Koro? Great! I have friends who live there! Let's go!" He took off in what I hoped was the direction of Ga-Koro.

Kongu seemed less ecstatic as he trudged along behind us. "Ga-Koro? Great. From dark-scary tunnels to water-yuck. I can't wait until we quest-trek back to Le-Wahi."

After about half an hour (I was really starting to hate all the walking), Nuparu seemed to be struck with a sudden thought. "Kay, what would happen if you tried to teleport? You were teleporting in that battle with the Guardian, right? Why couldn't you teleport to Ga-Koro?"

I thought about it. "Well, for one thing, I've never been there. I don't really know what it looks like, so I wouldn't know where to concentrate on. And I've never teleported that far before, either. I don't know, Nuparu, I just don't want to risk it."

"I'd help," Kahiki offered.

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'll learn on my own...later."

"What about the Bracelet's speed?" Kongu piped up. "You could try that!"

I glared at them. "You guys just want me to do random Rahi Warrior stuff, don't you?" They squirmed uncomfortably. "Okay, fine. I'll see what I can do." I raised my wrist. "Hey, Onako, how does this speed thing work?"

"Just start running."

"That seems simple enough. Okay, here goes nothing." I took a deep breath and started to run. I promptly tripped and crashed into Taka. "Ow...!"

"You okay?" he asked, laughing.

"Stop laughing. I'm fine." I stood up and dusted myself off as Taka did the same. "I was trying to access the Bracelet's powers, but I kind of messed up."

"Well, practise makes perfect. Try again."

I licked my lips and crouched into a racer's starting position. "Tally-ho," I muttered, and took off.

It was like nothing I'd ever experienced before. Sure, I'd been a 'passenger' with Kopaka and Pohatu, but it wasn't quite the same. I felt like I should be saying 'beep beep' and foiling a certain coyote's plans. I definitely wasn't going as fast as my aforementioned carriers, but I was still going pretty fast. Then I got an idea and dropped to all fours. My speed doubled. I'd never run so fast in my life!

My run was cut short as I ran headlong into a house. I stumbled back, clutching my head and moaning. Now I knew what it was like to see stars. It _hurt_. A _lot_. I was still moaning when I heard a voice.

"Kay? Is that you?"

I looked up and could sort of make out a tall blue person. "Toa Gali?"

"Just Gali," she replied. "You okay? You took quite the hit there!"

"'M fine." Then I shrieked, making Gali jump. "Taka and the others! I left them back there!"

"No, you stay right here," she said, forcing me to stay seated. "They know where you are, right?"

"Er, no, I kind of just took off."

"Why did you take off? Did you have an argument with Takanuva?" Gali looked genuinely concerned, and I smiled. I liked that about her. From what I'd seen of her, she always put others first. Even though she didn't know me too well, she was upset to think that I'd had a falling out with her brother Toa.

"No, I didn't get into a fight with anyone. Well, unless the Guardian counts. I got the Bracelet." I held it up for her to see. "Apparently, it gives speed powers, and I was testing them. I didn't realise I'd gone so far." I looked around. "Where am I, anyway?"

She swept her arm out, indicating what looked like a village. "This is Ga-Koro, the Village of Water." I still couldn't focus too well, but from what I could see, a lot of houses seemed to be drowning or floating on the water. When I pointed this out, she laughed. "No, no. Most of the buildings are built on large lily pads in the water."

"Just my luck," I muttered. "I would run into the one house built on land. At least I didn't run into the water and drown or something."

"Kay!"

I looked behind me to see Takanuva loping over to us, Kongu and Nuparu huffing and puffing as they brought up the rear. "Are you okay? You just took off...! I've never seen anyone without the Kanohi Kakama run so fast!"

"I'm fine, guys," I said, grinning sheepishly. "I kind of hit my head...wait, what's a Kanohi Kakama?"

"The Great Mask of Speed. That's what Toa Pohatu wears," Nuparu piped up. He was examining my head. "It doesn't look like there's any real damage, but there's some red stuff coming out of the top of your head."

I immediately started to panic. "WHAT? Oh, no, I'm bleeding! Quick, I need a piece of cloth or something!" I pressed my hand to the top of my head, looking around for something I could use as a bandage.

Gali removed my hand, then held her hands slightly apart, palms towards each other. A small ball of water started to grow between them, and when she released it, it flew over my head and expanded over my entire head. Surprisingly, I didn't have trouble breathing, and the pain in my head subsided. Then the water was gone, and Gali sagged. Taka caught her. "Th-thank you," I said, still unsure of what she'd done. I reached up and felt the top of my head. Aside from finding it was wet, I also found that the wound was gone, as though it had never existed. "Thanks," I said again, because this time I knew that she'd healed me. _I didn't know water could do that,_ I thought in awe.

I decided to take a look at my new surroundings, now that I could see clearly again. Green, weed-like houses lined the coastline of a large bay. Blue Ga-Matoran scuttled back and forth, reeling in fish, taking down houses, and building large boats out of wood and weeds.

"A lot of work going on here," I said, pointing around the Koro.

"Yes," Gali wheezed, hauling herself onto her legs. Taka backed off, as she seemed steady. "We're preparing to return to the Matoran's original home, Metru Nui. Believe it or not, the Turaga were once the Toa of that island."

"_SERIOUSLY?_" My mouth dropped in confused shock. I tried to imagine Vakama as a Toa, fighting giant Rahi with his flame stick. It was kind of creepy, really.

"Yes, we used to live there, until Makuta—" Taka went on, but as he said that, the Matoran within earshot gave a visible shudder, each of them. "Until _he_ put us all into stasis and shut us in spheres. They wiped our memories, and he was going to awaken us and teach us the exact opposite of what is right: Mata Nui the bad guy, and _him_ the good guy. Luckily Vakama and his team of Toa saved us all. This was before Gali and her brothers showed up, so we had to depend on the Toa Metru to save us. They fled Metru Nui after defeating Makuta—" Again with the shudders. "Oh come on, he's dead now! Do you have to do that shudder thing every time I say his name? Anyway, they fled because Makuta had wrecked the city with earthquakes. And, so we came here, and the Toa used their power to wake us up, transforming into Turaga in the process. And now, we've come full circle."

"That is the longest thing I've ever heard you say," I said, not digesting a word of what was said to me. "Wait—you said that Makuhita guy wiped your memories, so how do you remember everything?"

"Turaga Vakama has been telling us stories of Metru Nui so we'll be prepared when we return," Gali explained. "And it's Makuta, not Makuhita."

"Right, Makuhita's a Pokémon," I muttered.

"Gali, do you know any underwater caves along the coastline?" Takanuva asked.

She gave him a 'look.' You know the type—the kind of look that people give you if you've just asked a really stupid question that either has no answer or has a bajillion answers. "Taka, I'm the Toa of Water. I know almost every underwater cave around Mata Nui. Be specific."

"We're looking for one with an artefact in it, probably guarded by some kind of giant Rahi thing," I explained. Together, the boys and I filled Gali in on what had happened in Onu-Wahi.

She nodded thoughtfully. "I think there might be something kind of like that near Ga-Koro, actually. I can take you there, if you want."

Kongu's eyes grew wide and he shook his head rapidly. "Oh, no. You are not getting me to go deep-diving!"

"Fine, you can stay here," I told him. "Keep an eye out for anything evil-looking."

"If you come back and I've been eaten, I'm never speak-talking to you again," he grumbled.

"Hey, Takanuva!" Two Matoran were running towards us. One was a Ta-Matoran with a yellow mask, the other was a blue Ga-Matoran. The Ga-Matoran held a staff of some sort in her hand.

"Hm? Oh, hi Jaller!" Takanuva said to the yellow dude, who I assumed was Jaller. "What are you doing here? Ta-Matoran hate water. I know, I fell in a few times when I came by here. Besides, all the other Ta-Matoran are living in Le-Koro."

"Jaller decided to stay with us in Ga-Koro, for who knows what reason. He's been really helpful for building boats and whatnot," said the Ga-Matoran.

I swear, Jaller blushed right then. No one else noticed though, so it might have been an illusion. I decided to think it was real.

"So, who's this, Taka?" Jaller said quickly, pointing at me. I was still suspicious over why he'd come here instead of going to Le-Koro, and what the Ta-Matoran were doing in Le-Koro in the first place, but I couldn't dwell on that for long.

"I'm Kay," I said, sticking out my hand for a handshake. Jaller looked like he was going to run off startled, but he gathered his confidence and shook.

"I'm Jaller, and this is Hahli," said Jaller, gesturing to the Ga-Matoran. "She's our current Chronicler. What are you?"

"I'm a human," I said, relieved _someone_ hadn't thought I was an animal.

Jaller cocked his head to one side. "Is that some kind of new talking Rahi?"

I resisted the urge to feed him his feet. "No," I said patiently, "I'm just me."

"Technically," Takanuva said brightly, "since 'Rahi' means 'not us,' you actually are a Rahi, since you're a sentient being that's not a Matoran."

"Taka? Not. Helping."

I saw Gali cover a smile with her hand. "Come on," she said, leading the way into the surf. "We should get going."

I nodded and stood up, my legs groaning in protest after my run. "Coming," I muttered. Then I realised something. "Hold on a second. This underwater cave is underwater, right?" Everyone gave me a look that clearly said "Congrats, Holmes." "No, I mean...I can't breathe underwater, here, people."

Gali tapped her mask. "I wear the Kaukau Nuva, the Great Mask of Water Breathing. I can share its power with those near me, so don't stray too far."

Well, that cleared that up, anyway. I followed her, Takanuva close behind. Kongu and Nuparu opted to stay on the beach instead (gee, go swimming and watch a girl attack a Rahi and possibly die or stay on dry land with all the pretty girls? Hmm, tough decision), but Hahli wanted to come with us. "It would make a great story!" she said. Takanuva explained that as the new Chronicler, she was, like the previous one, always looking for new stories. I assumed that when he said 'the previous one,' he meant him.

Jaller took a look at the surf uncertainly, then looked back at Kongu and Nuparu. He did that four times, then said, "Alright, alright, I'll go with you guys."

"You sure about that? I mean, Ta-Matoran hate water, and you're a Ta-Matoran..." trailed Hahli, but Jaller gathered his resolve and said firmly, "I'm going with you guys."

Hahli held up her hands in defeat. "Okay, it's your decision." Jaller blushed again and mumbled something about 'the Captain of the Guard never runs away' or something before following us into the water.

I've always loved swimming. Amy says I was a fish in a past life. It just feels so good to let the water run over you, soothing all your aches and pains. This swimming trip was slightly less relaxing, though, because of a) my aching legs, and b) the fact that I was probably going to have to fight something. Gali's mask worked as advertised, and I found I could breathe water as easily as I could breathe air. It was a weird experience, but cool all the same.

After swimming for a little while (I made a mental note to take a nice, long break when we got back to dry land, or if we got back to dry land), we reached a small cave. Just inside the cave mouth was a short pedestal, and on top of the pedestal was—

"That's it!" I shouted, excited. I was a little surprised to find I could talk underwater as well, but I was too happy to be worrying about minor details like that. "That's the Gem!"

Hahli looked confused. "How do you know that's the specific Gem you're looking for?" she asked.

"I...I don't know. I just do. I'll go get it." I started to swim towards it, when Takanuva let out a shout.

"Be careful! It might be a trap!"

"Fine, and I'll just do a barrel roll while I'm at it, why don't I," I muttered.

I swam over to the algae-coated pedestal. It was exactly the same as the one underground had been (or so I had to assume, since the other one was, you know, dead). A round-ish gem of some sort sat in the center, about the size of my fist, clear as glass. Naturally, I picked it up.

And that's when the giant stone slab fell from the ceiling, separating me from the gang.


	7. Trapped With a Giant, Smelly Lapras

**Hai gaiz. So sorry about the non-posting and all that. Things have been...interesting. And our internet is stupid. In the words of the immortal Stan Lee, 'nuff said.'  
We have some news items for you! First, as you may have noticed, we have chapter titles now. We finally got around to those pesky little buggers. Secondly, PurpleBanana86 is now officially on ! Cheers and applause abound! Anyway, thank you once again to those who read, reviewed, and/or added this to an alert. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.**

Chapter 7: Trapped with a Giant Smelly Lapras

I pounded on the door. "Hey! What happened?"

"I told you it was a trap!" Taka said, somewhat hysterically, from the other side.

"Not helping!" I swam a little way away from the door, summoning the strength from the Pendant, and charged, using the Bracelet's speed. All that happened was that I probably broke my arm. "Guys, you've got to get me out of here!"

"Kay?" That was Gali. "I'm not sure how long my mask power will be able to reach you. We'll try to break down the door, but maybe you should try to find another way out. If I remember correctly, there should be something closer to the back."

I looked; all I could see was darkness. "It's worth a shot," I called. "Wish me luck." I heard Taka, Hahli, and Jaller say "Good luck" as I swam off, clutching my injured arm.

Now, just because I like to swim doesn't mean I can hold my breath. How do they do it in movies? Seriously, people can stay underwater for, like, ever in movies, unless they're supposed to be drowning. But this was real life, not a movie, not Pokémon, where they hold their breath for even longer than in movies. I was rapidly running out of air.

"Come on, Kay," Kahiki urged. "You can do it!"

"It can't be much farther," Onako added.

I wanted to say, "Uh, yeah, because you'd know, dirt-boy," but I didn't have the air. Finally, I saw a light up above, and I swam towards it, hoping it meant the surface, and, more importantly, air.

It did. I broke the surface, gasping and choking as I flailed about, struggling to stay up while still cradling my arm. What I wouldn't have given for a life jacket. I spotted something that looked suspiciously like land and doggie paddled towards it, too tired, hurt, and aching to do anything else. When I reached it, I sank to the ground, panting for breath. Flopping onto my back, I looked at my surroundings.

I seemed to be on a tiny island. It was made of hard rock, with a couple of trees clustered in the middle, sheltering themselves from the winds. The whole thing was about the size of my bedroom back home.

_Home..._ For the first time, I realised I was homesick. I'd been having so much fun (well, sort of) running around, having adventures with Takanuva and the gang, that I'd barely thought about home since Kahiki told me he'd take me home after I freed everyone. Had Amy gone home? Did Mom and Dad know I was missing? Had Herb explained where I was to Amy, and, more importantly, did Amy believe him? I know I'd always wanted some way out of the boring circle of life (yes that's a Disney reference) by any means possible, but Amy had always had a practical head on her shoulders. I don't think she's the kind of person who would rather fall down a rabbit hole and end up in Narnia or go to school at Hogwarts with Artemis Fowl. Me, on the other hand...let's just say that the monotony of life had begun to 'get to me,' and that's probably why I just accepted that everything that was happening was real.

I'd been so wrapped up in my thoughts of Amy and of home that I didn't realise there was a third voice in my head until it said, "Cheer up, Kay. Everything can't be that yucky-bad! Things have a way of smooth-working out, you'll see!"

I screamed. I couldn't help it. "Wh-wh-what the—?"

"Kay, this is Prolan, Toa Ihar of Air," Kahiki explained. "He lives inside the Gem, and when he was brought out into the open air, he was awakened. Don't worry, I explained everything to him already."

I pulled the Gem out of my pocket with my good hand. It had changed from clear and glass-like to a beautiful emerald green, the same colour as the tiny stud earrings I was wearing. "Hello, Prolan," I said. "Nice to meet you."

"Hello! I'm Prolan! I can fire lasers from my eyes and fly like a Gukko bird!"

"Neither of which is any use at this time," I muttered. "Any useful ideas for how to get off this rock and possibly fix my arm?"

"Um, Kay?" Kahiki said. "Teleporting, remember?"

Now, why hadn't I thought of that _before_ breaking my arm? "Right. I'll try." I closed my eyes, then immediately opened them again. "Hey, guys, can I talk to you about something?"

"No problem," Onako said. "I'm a good listener."

"It's just...I want to go home. I want to let them know everything's okay. I mean, there's nothing wrong with getting you guys back to normal, and I am going to do that, but I just...I miss home, you know? Have you ever missed something so much it hurts?"

There was silence for an uncomfortably long moment. Then Kahiki said quietly, "Yes. Yes, I have." He said it with such sincerity that I found I couldn't doubt him, but I wasn't sure I wanted to know what it was. There was another silence, then he seemed to shake it off and said, "Well, I suppose you can go back for a little visit. But maybe we should get back to the mainland and get that arm looked at first, hm?"

"Right. Okay." I stood up, preparing to summon Kahiki's teleporting power to take me back to Ga-Koro, when suddenly, the island _moved_.

I don't mean 'moved like an earthquake' moved. I mean 'shuddered and then lifted into the air' moved. I was too petrified to scream as I fell back onto my butt. We rose so high, I thought I would be sick. Then Kahiki said, "Kay, look!"

Kahiki knew I had severe height-phobia. If he was telling me to look over the edge, it was really, _really_ important.

I slowly crept forward, trying to keep my balance and hold my arm at the same time, and looked over. What I saw was enough to give me even more reason to be afraid of heights.

It wasn't an island I was on; it was the back of a giant, scaly, grey sea monser. It had a back like a turtle, the body of a sea serpent, and the head of Ogopogo (a Canadian sea monster; Google it).

My first thought was _Hey, it looks like a Lapras from Pokémon!_ My second thought was _AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!_ And my third thought was _Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get out of bed._

"How come we didn't notice this part of the creature when we swam up here?" Onako asked.

"We were too busy hoping Kay would survive," Kahiki replied, "and Prolan was still asleep."

I was too freaked out to bother snapping back, especially since the _thing_ had raised its head and twisted its neck around to look at me with giant, yellow tennis ball eyes. Then it spoke into my mind. _I am the Keeper,_ it said. _You are the Rahi Warrior?_

"Y-yes?" I answered with a squeak. I swallowed. "Yes," I said again, this time louder and, I hoped, more confident.

_It is my sworn duty to protect the Gem from unworthy tresspassers,_ Mr. Keeper said (in my mind). He then shoved his head right into my face, scaring the bajeebers out of me. _Give me the Gem._

"Uh..." was all I could muster. Mr. Keeper's breath washed over me in stinky, fish-flavoured waves. "Okay...but why?"

_Because each of us must test your strength in new surroundings,_ Mr. Keeper explained. _Now give me the Gem._

"Wait! Don't I get a speak-say in this?" Prolan protested, procrastinating (say that with a mouthful of mushrooms).

Mr. Keeper looked surprised, or about as surprised as an ugly, grey Lapras can get. _He is awakened?_

"No, I'm slumber-sleepwalking. Obviously, I'm ever-wakened," Prolan spat sarcastically. It was odd to see, a green stone having a conversation with a sea monster. Oh well, 6 impossible things before breakfast, and all that.

_Then you must be the Rahi Warrior!_ Mr. Keeper said. I resisted the urge to headdesk, which wasn't hard, because there wasn't a desk in sight.

"Um, yeah, I've been telling you that the whole time," I said, a hint of 'DUH' in my voice.

_Still, I must test you._

"OH COME ON!" I yelled to nobody in particular.

_If you have the Bracelet, then you must have passed the Guardian's test?_ I nodded, unsure of where he was going with this. _The Guardian's test is a test of physical strength. Mine is a test of destiny._

"Again with the destiny thing? I don't have a destiny. Or if I do, I write my own. Tea leaves and tarot are Amy's thing." Saying her name out loud gave me a little pang in my stomach.

_You...you do not believe in destiny?_ Mr. Keeper seemed shocked. I guess everyone here believes in destiny. Uh-oh. What had Matoro said about Toa? "...Honour the three virtues of Unity, Duty, and Destiny!" My saying I don't believe in destiny was a slap in the face, like telling the Pope I was atheist or something.

"Er, no offense or anything, but it's just a little more...comforting to think that I'm in control and not some weird force or something. I can certainly try to believe in destiny, but I don't think it's quite the same thing."

_It doesn't matter whether or not you believe in destiny. If it is your destiny to be the Rahi Warrior, then you will pass the test. Now give me the Gem._

Shaking a little, I held out the Gem, ignoring Prolan's protests. Mr. Keeper nodded once, then his head struck out and he grabbed the Gem.

Then he swallowed it.

I screamed. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU STUPID SEA CREATURE ARE YOU _TRYING_ TO DESTROY MY LIFE BECAUSE YOU'RE DOING A PRETTY GOOD JOB OF IT SO FAR SNAKE-BRAINS YOU DO REALISE I NEED THAT IF I'M GOING TO GET HOME RIGHT GIVE IT BACK...!"

I probably would have gone on in similar fashion if he hadn't said, _It's part of the test. You have to get it back._

"You're joking."

_I don't joke_.

"And how do you propose that I get it back? It's _in your gullet_ right now, being digested!"

"And it really ever-stinks!" Prolan called.

_Call for it. It will come to you._

"That's really cheesy. Who thinks this stuff up, anyway?"

_If you pass the test, I will tell you._

I stared. "Seriously? That was a rhetorical question, but okay, here goes nothing." I stretched out my hand like I was beckoning to a dog. "Here, Gemmy Gem Gem. Come here, Gemmy. Proooooooolan, I know you're in there, come to Mama..." I whistled a little.

"Not like that, you idiot!" Onako snapped. "Mata Nui, is our hero an idiot!"

"Hey, I'm not—" Then I stopped. He'd called me a hero. I wasn't sure whether to be flattered or worried I wouldn't live up to the title. Or maybe just worried I wouldn't live. Whatever. Anyway, I forced myself to think. I held my hand out again and closed my eyes, concentrating on the Gem and Prolan—how I needed them and how they needed me; I imagined the Gem materializing in my hand, however improbable it seemed. When I opened my eyes again, there it was, hovering just above the palm of my hand. It slowly lowered into my hand, and I sighed contentedly. "About time," I told Prolan.

"How was I supposed to know he'd eat me?" he asked grumpily.

I turned to Mr. Keeper. "I passed, right? Though I don't really know how... Now tell me who's behind this!"

_Very well. There once was a group known as the Shadow Organization._

I heard a collective gasp from all three trapped Toa. "Heard of them before?" I asked.

"M-maybe," Kahiki muttered. I frowned; he was hiding something. I hate it when people hide things. "Continue, Keeper."

_This Organization once opposed the Toa Ihar and was defeated. Eventually, they turned on each other, each blaming the others for their downfall. They fought and killed each other—with one exception._

He looked like he was going to say more, but suddenly his eyes glazed over, as though he was staring into the distance, and he began to fall. The island I was on shook and fell too, crashing down towards the sea. I started to scream. "Kay, you have to teleport to Ga-Koro now!" Kahiki shouted over the noise.

"But he's—"

"I'm pretty sure he's dead, Kay," Onako said sharply. "Don't follow him there."

I nodded and teleported to Ga-Koro. Unfortunately, I missed my mark a little. My knees buckled and I splashed down into the ankle-deep water.

"Kay!" Kongu and Nuparu raced over to me. "Are you alright?" Kongu asked. Then he saw that I was clutching my arm. "You're bad-hurt!"

"Are there any doctors in Ga-Koro?" Nuparu called. No one rushed forward. "Fine, I'll improvise something." I started to protest, but he'd already run off.

"Where are the others?" Kongu asked. "You were with two Toa-heroes; how did this happen?"

Trying my best not to cry from the pain in my arm, I explained what had happened. Nuparu came back about halfway through, so I started over as he bound up my arm with a makeshift splint. When I'd finished, Kongu nodded. "I see. The Toa-heroes just got back; they're over there." He pointed a little way up the beach and I could see Takanuva shaking himself off like a dog—a very gloomy dog. He picked himself up and trudged wearily away.

"Hey! Takanuva!" I called out to him. He twisted his head sharply at the sound of my voice, and shot over to me so fast it was like he was faster than light. Maybe he was; he's got power over light after all.

"OMGS Kay! You're alive! I thought you were dead! Gone! Kaput! Went asplode! Sleeping with the Takea sharks! Up with the Great Beings!" Taka was spouting homonyms like nobody's business, then Jaller cut him off.

"Kohli-head! You could have been water-bones!"

"But I ain't," I said with a grin.

"No, you didn't say it right," Jaller mumbled as I hugged Gali and Hahli.

"That was close," Hahli said. Then she seemed to remember something and said, "Did you get the Gem?"

"See for yourself." I held out the green Gem, which pulsed slightly with light that came from inside it.

"Cool..." Hahli breathed, momentarily transfixed. Then she blinked and said, "Where's the next artefact?"

I thought for a moment, then consulted the Gem. "Hey Prolan, you don't have convenient healing powers, do you?"

"No, no I don't" was the Toa of Air's answer.

"No, that'd be too easy," I grumbled. "Do any of your teammates have them?"

"Yes, our sister-Toa, Brelx, Toa-heroine of Water. Her mask power repairs anything tear-damaged, including muscle and the like-stuff."

"Where is she?"

Kahiki answered this question. "She's in Ko-Wahi. Somewhere within Mount Ihu, to be exact."

I looked at Hahli. "We're going to Ko-Wahi."

Hahli looked as if she was considering something, then said, "Alright, I've made up my mind. I'm going with you."

"Why?"

"I've already been on one adventure with you guys, and I've proved how useful I can be."

"You didn't do—" I started, but Jaller said, "I'll go too!"

Now Hahli asked, "Why?"

Jaller didn't answer. Then he said, "Um...you need my...expertise! Yeah...with...um...a kohli stick and shield!" He rushed into the hut I had crashed into on my first visit here, and came back out with a large stick with a hammer on one end and a scoop on the other, and a small, yellow, round shield.

"Okay...well, now that that's settled, let's go!" I took a step in the direction I assumed Ko-Wahi was in—and fell flat of my face. My knees had given out under me again.

Taka rushed over. "Are you all right?"

"No..." I said, lying facedown in the sand. "My arm hurts like hell, my legs won't work, and now I have a mouthful of sand! And I'm tired...really tired..."

The last thing I saw before I blacked out was Takanuva reaching towards me.


	8. Climbing Mount Everest or Ihu

**Bwa-ha-ha, you didn't think we'd have this up this quickly, did you? *evil laughter followed by coughing fit* Anyway, there's not much to say that we didn't say in the last author note, except that reviews fuel our souls! You don't want to be responsible for our depression, do you? Kidding. But seriously, please review. It really would make us happy. Thank you!**

Chapter 8: Climbing Mount Everest/Ihu

When I woke up, I was in a very familiar setting. I was in the same room that I'd woken up in when Kopaka had found me out in the storm. I recognized the Kane-Ra decor and there were several stones covering up the hole where said Rahi had busted in. The giant fire in the middle of the room was still going strong, and most of the people in the room—Takanuva, Hahli, Jaller, Kongu, and Nuparu—were huddled around it, especially Jaller. Kopaka was there too, but he was as far away from the heat source as he could get.

Kongu was the first to notice that I was awake, and he rushed over to help me sit up. "Are you alright, Kay? We were sad-worried about you!"

"'M fine," I mumbled, rubbing my head with my good arm. "How'd I get here?"

"I carried you," Takanuva explained, coming over, with the Matoran and Kopaka following. "You said we had to go to Ko-Wahi, so I took you here. We're in the Ko-Suva, a shrine to Kopaka."

I smirked up at the Toa of Ice. "You have a shrine?"

He shrugged wordlessly. "How is your arm?"

A little surprised at his concern, I glanced down at it. "Well, it hurts. But that's normal, right? I mean, I'm pretty sure it's broken."

"Then it is imperative that we find the next artefact immediately," Kopaka said, striding to the door.

"You know where it is, Brother?" Taka asked, standing up as Hahli and Kongu helped me to my feet.

Kopaka paused. "Not exactly. But I do know of a place very similar in description to the two shrines where the others were found. It's worth finding. The only problem is..."

We waited. He seemed to be lost in thought a little, and was looking at me. "Um, Kopaka? Are you alright?" I asked, walking up to him and waving my hand in front of his face. He ignored me and tore out the door like the hounds of Makuta were on his heels. "Kopaka?"

There was a rumble from outside, which halted abruptly. It was silent for a long time. Then the rumble started again, this time quieter, as though from farther away. Kopaka walked back inside as if nothing had happened. "Avalanche," he explained at the sight of our confused faces. "Headed right for Ko-Koro."

"You _stopped_ an _avalanche_?" I sputtered in disbelief.

He shook his head. "Not stopped. Simply moved."

I stared at him. Everyone else nodded like it was perfectly normal and Nuparu asked, "So what's the problem?"

"The problem is that the only one who knows the shrine's location is—"

"Is me."

We all turned to see Matoro emerging from another entrance. "I explained to Turaga Nuju the situation. He agreed to let me show you the way to the cave; he's not doing much right now."

"Then let's go," Kopaka said, striding out the door again, obviously eager to get this over with.

We trudged up the mountain that Kopaka informed me was Mount Ihu, a barren wasteland of snow and ice, and apparently the site where I first appeared on Mata Nui. Fortunately, my legs had had time to rest after all of their activity, so climbing wasn't too hard, but it still hurt. The pain in my arm hadn't let up either, so the journey was not only long, cold, and boring, but it was painful, too. And remembering that I was wearing nothing but a wet tank top and jean shorts, it was _really_ cold. We passed the time with idle banter, mostly from Taka and Kongu, with Jaller and Hahli holding their own conversation about kohlii, whatever that was. Kopaka, true to form, didn't say much, while Matoro was leading us, leaving me with my Toa buddies and Nuparu.

"Kay," he said after a while, "what's it like in your world?"

I was surprised by the question. "Well, it's...it's really different from here, for sure. People rarely live past ninety, for one thing." That seemed to shock him. "We have these things called cars, trains, and airplanes to get us around. There are lots of smaller land masses divided up into sections called countries, and each country is divided up into smaller sections. Those are provinces, states, territories, prefectures, and so on. Then there are villages and cities in the smaller sections where humans live. Most humans have my basic structure, but each one is unique. You can't have two people who look exactly the same in every way. Even identical twins rarely look exactly the same."

Nuparu and the Toa Ihar kept asking me questions about Earth, things like "Do people have jobs there like we do here?" and "What kind of sports do you play?" Kopaka, annoyed with all the chatter, finally said "We're here."

"Here" turned out to be a big cave mouth at the very peak of Mount Ihu. I was utterly unimpressed. "More caves? Really? Do you know how tired of caves I've become in the past day? Whoever hid these must really like caves."

"Must be a cross-wired Onu-Matoran," Kongu said, nudging Nuparu.

"Or a crazy Le-Matoran with a twisted sense of humour," Nuparu shot back.

Taka lit his mask to a soft glow, illuminating our surroundings. "Well, let's get going. The sooner we get going, the sooner Kay's arm gets healed."

"It's not far inside," Matoro assured us as we walked in. "But it's guarded by—"

"I know, I know, giant evil Rahi thing," I grumbled. "This is starting to get old."

"Rahi? No, it's guarded by a being that looks a lot like Kay!"

Everyone was shocked. There was another human on Mata Nui? How did that happen?

"He asks three questions of whoever comes looking for the Anklet," Matoro continued. "If you get them wrong, you have to fight him. To the death."

I swallowed. "Well, I'd better get them right, then."

As we entered another hallway, we heard a voice yell, "Stop!"

We stopped and looked around. Standing next to a wall was a decrepit old man. He was hunched over, dressed in rags, and pretty bedraggled. I was reminded of the Old Man From Scene 24 in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, my dad's favourite movie of all time. I glanced at Matoro, who nodded, confirming that yes, this was who we were looking for. I walked over to the old man. "I'm here for the Anklet that you guard," I said boldly, or at least in a pretty good imitation of boldly.

"I am the Warden. Whosoever searches for the artefacts must answer me these questions three, or hide nor hair of the Anklet she'll see," he recited. From the sounds of things, he'd been reciting that same thing for years upon years.

I licked my suddenly-dry lips. "All right. Do your worst."

"First question. What...is your name?"

_You've got to be kidding me,_ I thought. "Kayla Amelia Denver," I stated. There was muttering from behind me; apparently I'd never actually told them my full name. Oops.

"Second question. What...is your quest?"

_Oh for crying out loud!_ "To find the artefacts with the Toa Ihar trapped inside and the Rahi Blade and free the Toa Ihar." After a pause, I quietly added, "And then to go home." Kahiki pulsed reassuringly in my hand.

"Third question."

"If you ask me what my favourite colour is, so help me, I'll..."

"No, no. The third question is this: Two cars start out 307 kilometers away from each other. If they are travelling towards each other, with one car going 67 kilometres per hour and the other car going 83 kilometers per hour, how long will it take until they pass each other?"

I stared at him. "Uh...42?"

A sword materialized in his hand and steely resolve glinted in his eyes. "Wrong answer."

He started to mutate into a giant white behemoth, even bigger than the Guardian had been, though mercifully smaller than Mr. Keeper. He looked kind of like the Abominable Snowman from Bugs Bunny, but given the really big teeth and horns, I didn't think he could be pacified simply by offering a little bunny rabbit/duck named George. He flexed his claws (also not in Bugs Bunny) and tossed his sword from hand to hand. He grunted and snarled at me. Apparently transforming into giant snowmen robs you of your ability to talk.

I, in turn, whirled and ran like hell, screaming my mouth off. The Warden-snowman rumbled through the cavern after me, swinging his sword to make a point (ha ha, puns).

"What do I do?" I yelled at Taka and Kopaka as I ran by. They may have answered, but the Warden-snowman roared loudly, threatening to pop my eardrums.

Kopaka froze it.

Hearing the giant footfalls stop, I also stopped and looked at the Warden-snowman. "That's cheating," I said. Kopaka shrugged.

The Warden-snowman busted out with a flex of its muscles and the chase resumed. "CHEEEEEEEEATERRRRRRRRRRRRR!" the Warden-snowman said. Okay, so my voice-robbing theory was wrong. Oh well.

"Not my idea!" I shouted over the cacophony.

"Kay!" Prolan yelled. "The lasers!"

"What?"

"The lasers! I can fire lasers, remember? That was, like, the first thing I said to you! I can fire lasers using my mask power!"

Oh, yeah. Doy. I whirled on the Warden-snowman and held up my good arm. A green laser shot out of it, a very...um..._interesting_ experience, burning a hole in the side of the Warden's leg. It roared in pain and fell to the ground.

"And there's more where that came from," I said proudly, brandishing my arm.

Then the wound healed instantly. The triumphant grin dropped from my face and I started to run off again, but something I noticed stopped me. The Warden-snowman was chipped.

_Chipped? Why would it be..._ I glanced at Kopaka and the others. Taka and Kopaka had noticed as well, and I ran over to them to see if they had any theories.

"It's made of ice" was all Kopaka said.

"That means it should melt," Nuparu said thoughtfully. "But since it can heal itself, you'll have to melt it all at once...or at least really quickly."

I smirked. "I have an idea."

Turning to face the Warden-snowman, I called on the Bracelet's speed and zoomed around him. I started blasting him with lasers as fast as I could, and it was working. I was melting him faster than he could heal himself. Finally, all that was left was a puddle of water and a head.

I held my arm out, palm facing the head. "Alright, it's my turn to be asking questions," I said. "And don't try that self-healing thing again, or you're going to become a permanent part of the floor."

The Warden-snowman started to open its mouth, but suddenly it shattered into a million pieces. I whirled to glare at Kopaka. "What did you do?"

But he seemed just as surprised as I was. "Nothing," he said.

"What, so he just up and shattered on his own?" Matoro asked. "If Toa Kopaka didn't shatter him, who or _what_ did?"

"That was me."

We all turned to see a Rahi, about the size of a Turaga, walking towards us on its back legs. It had to use a cane to stay up, and it looked incredibly ancient. "I am the real Warden," it said, "though in a previous life I was known as the Turahi."

I knelt down to the Warden's height. "Look, Warden, or Turahi, or whatever, I need some answers. If I'm really this warrior that everyone says I am, I think I'm entitled to them."

It nodded. "Of course. I also have history with the one who did this to the Toa Ihar." I glanced at the Pendant. Silence from all three Toa. "Once, I was a Turaga. What I was before that is not important. But the Shadow Organization kidnapped me and used me in one of their...experiments. Now, I am a combination of Turaga, Nui-Jaga, Muaka, and Kane-Ra, forced to work for the Shadow Organization's one remaining member." It was true: it had the body of a Turaga, Muaka legs (from what I'd seen in pictures Taka had shown me), Nui-Jaga wings (again from the pictures) and the head of a Kane-Ra. It looked like some weird kind of Sphinx.

"Why do you have to work for him?" Jaller asked. "You made that other Warden, right? Couldn't you make more and beat him up?"

The Warden laughed softly, without humour. "He is infinitely more powerful than I," he explained. "Only the power of the Toa Ihar can defeat him, like they did so many years ago. Also...he has my people. I cannot oppose him, or I risk placing them in jeopardy."

"Is that why this guy doesn't want me to get the artefacts?" I asked.

"Oh, he wants you to get the artefacts...in fact, he's counting on it." The wall that the fake Warden had been standing in front of suddenly melted away, revealing a third shrine. "The Anklet is there," the Turahi said, turning to leave.

I grabbed its arm. "Hold it! Which of the members is the one still left alive?"

It shook its head, a pained expression on its Kane-Ra face. "I cannot say more. Take the artefact and go." And it disappeared.

There was silence. Then I huffed and stood up. "Fine, no one tell me anything," I grumbled, heading for the shrine and grabbing the Anklet. "Let's get this Toa awakened." I placed the thin silver circle in the puddle left by the Warden-snowman, and it flashed once before turning blue. I attached it to my ankle and a soft female voice spoke in my mind. "What...where am I?"

"Sister!" Prolan said happily. "You are ever-awakened!"

"Prolan?"

"Brelx, it is good to hear from you again," Kahiki said softly. This was a different side of Kahiki that I had never seen.

"Kahiki? Is that you?"

"Aww, the love-Gukko are back together," Prolan said sarcastically.

While Brelx's brothers filled her in quickly, I stood up. "Looks like we're good here, guys," I said. Then I noticed that my arm didn't hurt anymore. I undid Nuparu's makeshift splint, made from some broken oars and vines, and swung it back and forth. "Huh. That's weird."

"Maybe Brelx's power automatically fixed your arm?" Hahli offered.

"Yeah, that probably makes the most sense. Can we get out of here now, please?" I asked. "I'm really tired. I've had a long day." It was true; I could feel myself sagging.

As we left the cave, Brelx asked me a question. "You've found three artefacts in a single day. How?"

"I had a lot of help," I told her, indicating my travelling group. I was holding up the rear, dragging my feet because I was so tired. "Don't tell them, but I like them a lot more than I lead them to believe."

"Really?" Kahiki said.

"Really really. Sure, they can be kind of annoying sometimes, or talkative, or whatever, but they still have good qualities. None of them ever give up, they'll always come through for a friend, and no matter what, they always stay positive."

Up ahead, I heard Taka say, "She's saying nice things about us, guys!"

I turned red; they'd heard me? "No I'm not!"

Kopaka picked me up and glanced at Takanuva. "I'll see you at the Suva," he said, skiing down the mountain with me.

Surprisingly, everyone else was keeping pace, or at least not falling too far behind. Kopaka had left his shield, which Jaller, Hahli, and Matoro were using as a toboggan, and Taka was piggybacking Nuparu and Kongu as he hopped from outcropping to outcropping. While they weren't far behind, they were behind enough that I could have a semi-private conversation with the Toa of Ice.

"I have to ask," I said. He glanced at me and his eye widened in that Spock eyebrow imitation. "Are all Toa of Ice like you?"

"I would not know," he said shortly. "I have never met one. And what do you mean, 'like you?'"

"You know, all cold and distant."

"I simply don't speak if I have nothing to say."

"Good for you." I meant it, too; it really annoys me when people go on and on and don't say anything worth listening to. Maybe that's why I don't like Shakespeare.

True to form, he didn't reply. "Fine, don't say any...thing..." The next thing I knew, I was zonked out. Again.


	9. Home Again, Home Again

**Okay, so this one's kind of short. Short-ish. Whatever. Anyway, Ed kind of wrote this one pretty much on her own, but PB86 wrote the ending. We have no idea when the tenth chapter will be posted (OMG we're already at chapter NINE O.o) but please bear with us. Again, thanks to those of you who read and reviewed. Always appreciated!**

Chapter 9: Home Again, Home Again

When I woke up, I was back in the Suva, wrapped in a blanket next to the fire. Everyone else was also scattered about the room on ice slabs with blankets, except for Matoro and Kopaka. I wasn't sure where Matoro was (probably wherever in Ko-Koro he lived), but Kopaka was sitting on a window ledge on the other side of the room, staring out the window as though lost in thought.

I felt really rested, and wondered how long I'd been sleeping—it was dark outside, from what I could see. Then I realised that my stomach wasn't just growling at me, it was screaming profanities as loudly as it could. I sat up and grabbed Kahiki. "Hey, Human Torch," I whispered, trying not to wake anyone up or attract Kopaka's attention. "How's about that trip home you were talking about?"

"You have ten minutes," Kahiki said as white mist wrapped around me once again. As the Suva faded, I saw Kopaka looking at me with a slight hint of—was that alarm on his mask? I smiled reassuringly as he disappeared from view and hoped he got the message.

Kopaka was watching the snow fall, lost in thought. Usually, he would go up Mount Ihu when he wanted to think, but he felt sort of obliged to stay near their human guest. Sure, Takanuva was there if anything went wrong, but Taka was...well, Taka, and if there was anything Taka was, it was irresponsible. And he wanted to stay close to Kay for some reason.

Kay. She confused him, and not just because she was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. She seemed to have accepted her destiny, then claimed she didn't believe in destiny at all. She would be confused or upset one minute, then suddenly angry or happy the next. She asked the strangest questions, and more than once Kopaka had wondered why the Toa Ihar had chosen _her_; why _her_ of all people? All Kay seemed to do was complain. But then she'd said those kind things about all of them...he just couldn't figure her out.

He supposed she felt the same way; after all, he prided himself on being cool and distant, and that type of person is generally difficult to decipher. But for him, it was doubly difficult to understand, because he never worked very hard to do it usually.

The Ice Toa snapped out of his reverie at a noise from the other side of the fire. Looking over, he saw a swirling mass of white mist, and he could just barely make out Kay in the middle of it. Leaping up, alarmed, he saw her smile at him before she disappeared.

Kahiki's aim sucks.

Not only did I not end up anywhere near my house, I was in a locked room. I recognised it as my school cafeteria. Standing up, I headed for the door, praying silently that it opened from the inside and that I wouldn't trigger any silent alarms. Not only was it the middle of the night, it was also the middle of summer. What better time to break in than now, when it was almost guaranteed empty?

Which was exactly why I wanted out. Now.

I got out of the caf without much incident and was making a break for the front doors when a voice said, "Hey! You!"

I whirled to see the night janitor. I swore and gripped Kahiki. "I'm using your power now, got it?" I told him. He didn't object, and I teleported to my room. The last thing I saw before I left was the janitor's bewildered face.

Apparently, Kahiki's not the only one with bad aim, because I landed in a heap right on top of Amy. She sat up and shrieked. "Amy, keep it down! You trying to murder someone or something?" I hissed, clapping a hand over her mouth. "It's me! Kay! You know, your sister?"

"K-Kay?" Amy's face told me what she wasn't saying: _What's going on here?_

"Okay, Cole's Notes time," I said, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and hopping down. "I need food. Really badly. Oh, don't bother waking Mom and Dad up; they wouldn't believe me anyway and they'd probably just lock me in some mental institution or something."

Amy followed me silently down the stairs and into our tiny kitchen. I opened the fridge and started devouring whatever was handy and (preferably) edible. Hey, I hadn't eaten in hours and I was _hungry_. Once my hunger had been sated for a while, I filled Amy in while I searched the hall closet for my old backpack. When I'd finished, I was holding a slightly beaten-up purple backpack and facing an even more confused sister.

"You can't seriously expect me to believe that you went to some random technologically unadvanced island that had a bunch of robots running all over the place to find _jewellery_," she said.

"Oh, good, you did absorb the gist of it," I said, heading for the fridge again. "You think Mom and Dad will mind if I take the rest of this bread? Oh, and the peanut butter will be good. How many apples should I bring, do you think?"

"Kay, this is crazy!" Amy snapped, grabbing my shoulders and turning me to face her. A few inches shorter than me she may be, but damn if she's not strong as an ox. "You disappear, come back in the middle of the night, tell me this ridiculous story which, by the way, I do _not_ believe, and now you're planning on going _back_? Are you out of your mind?"

"Maybe a little," I shrugged, pushing her off me and heading for my room. "But I made a promise, Amy. I need to keep it."

She stood in my doorway as I started jamming clothes into my bag. Not being prepared for Ko-Wahi could have proven deadly, and I was sure that the only reason I hadn't died of cold on our trip to find Brelx was something to do with Kopaka, so I went for the baggy sweatshirt that said 'Mudcats Rule' across the back (okay, so it's dumb, but school spirit and all that jazz, right?) and my old sweatpants that were starting to get kind of short. When I looked up from shoving in socks, Amy was gone. I sighed. "Great," I said to the Toa Ihar. "She's probably looking up the number for the nearest funny farm right about now."

"Funny farm?" Prolan said happily. "That sounds like fun!"

"Er, not so much."

"You and your sister are close?" Brelx asked.

"Best friends," I confirmed, heading for the bathroom to look for the biodegradable soap I'd bought once for a camping trip.

"Three minutes," Kahiki said.

"Kay."

I looked up to see Amy standing in the bathroom doorway, holding what looked like the newspaper. "This is yesterday's," she explained, unfolding it and pointing to the horoscope section. "This was your horoscope for today."

I quickly scanned it for the Gemini section. "'You will face your destiny today,'" I read, my voice shaking. "'Be ready for it and welcome it with open arms. Today's lucky numbers are 3 and 6.'" I pushed it away, my body now matching my voice. "Destiny? Th-that's...Amy, you know I don't believe in destiny!"

"Maybe you'd better start," Amy said, folding the paper again. "Kay, promise me you'll come back." Now her voice was shaking.

My heart broke for her and I gave her a hug. "I promise. Just don't tell Mom and Dad, or they'll think you're crazy. Oh, and it's not Herb's fault."

"Who?"

"The Turtle Hermit. I'll explain later." Kahiki's mist started wrapping around me again. "I'll be back, Amy! I promise!"

And then I was gone.

Kopaka was pacing agitatedly. Taka watched him from his usurped position at the window. Mercifully, the Matoran were still asleep, since neither Toa wanted to wake or worry their charges. What would they say? "Oh, sorry guys, but she kind of exploded into a big white misty thing."

Taka had to resist the urge to say "What part of 'keeping watch' do you not understand? How could you let her just disappear out from under your nose?" But over the year that Kopaka had been on the island, even from his few interactions with the Toa of Ice, he could guess that the conversation would end with Ko-Koro having a new and very realistic ice sculpture of Takanuva added to the decor.

It was actually Kopaka who broke the silence. "We have to find her."

Taka blinked. "Um, okay. Any idea where to look?" That struck a nerve, and the Ice Toa went back to pacing. "That's a no, then."

"She teleported again. She could be anywhere. Kini-Nui, Ta-Koro..."

"Karzahni!" Takanuva piped up helpfully. Kopaka glared at him and kept talking.

"She could be back soon, or in three hours, or..."

"Right now!" said Takanuva, watching the white mist swirl and dance in the corner. Less than a second later, Kopaka had spotted it too, and the two Toa watched for Kay to reappear.

I stepped out of the mist to see Kopaka standing in front of me, looking rather annoyed for a guy with a telescope for a left eye.

"Where were you?" he asked calmly, indicating that he was extremely angry.

"Visiting my sister," I said lamely.

"Now?" he yelled quietly. Yes, that does make sense. He had a shouting tone but there was no volume to it. "Here we are, halfway through your quest to find the artefacts, but you decide to abandon your duty to go VSITING!" and that part was really loud, waking Hahli. "Don't go off and leave us like that again!" For a moment I wondered if he had said that out of love or something, but when I looked at him, he was unreadable as a book that you'd dropped in lava.

"What's going on?" asked Hahli, sitting up on her ice-slab-that-was-serving-as-a-bed.

"Nothing!" shouted Taka happily, leaping off the windowsill. "Go back to sleep."

"I can't, these beds are too redundant," she said.

"What?" Taka replied.

"I've got an ice slab to sleep on, which is freezing, but I've also got a blanket to keep me warm. Redundant."

"Whose dumb idea was that?" Taka asked.

Hahli pointed at Kopaka.

"Oh."

"Do you want to be encased in ice and chucked out the window?" Kopaka asked the Toa of Light coolly.

"No, not really."

"Then shut up if you know what's good for you."

By now, everyone else was beginning to wake up as well, so Kopaka's argument with me would have to be postponed until later.

"Hey, Mr. Matches," I said to Kahiki. "Where's our next artefact?"

"Well, we've got two to go, our Toa of Ice and our Toa of Stone. They're in Po-Wahi and Le-Wahi, respectively." I relayed the information to my gang, and Kongu cheered.

"Yay! Home-back to Le-Wahi at last!"

"Po-Wahi's closer," said Kopaka.

"DARNIT!"

And that's how we decided to go to Po-Wahi.

* * *

**Ed has one thing to say: poor, poor Kongu. Everything bad happens to Kongu.**


	10. Everyone But Vakama's Telling Stories!

**Hello, everybody! We're really sorry to have kept you waiting for so long, but this is how this story is currently working:  
Ed writes part of a chapter. Ed sends what she has written to PB86. PB86 writes more chapter. They decide whether to end chapter or continue. If chapter is ended, Ed posts it. If chapter is continued, the cycle begins again.  
Never, ever, EVER write a collaboration with someone you're going to be separated from in a few months. We are currently living in two different cities and only see each other on weekends. Plus, Ed's now a college freshman (freshwoman?) and PB86 just started Grade 9 and he's in a play.  
So this chapter was mostly written by Ed who decided that the whole 'Kay hating destiny' issue needed to be solved. PB86 did the ending. (Ed sent him an email that literally said 'HALP I NEEDS FUNNY THIS IS TOO SERIOUS!') We'll try to keep it more lighthearted from now on.  
Anyway, please R&R because it's the only thing on Ed's 'like' list that tops free food and Professor Layton. And don't worry, this isn't being abandoned and it's nowhere near done. :3  
Also, we know that the title and the banner thingie don't match up, but that's because it wouldn't fit.**

Chapter 10: Why is Everyone But Vakama Telling Stories?

I hid behind a rock to change into my sweats. When I came back out, everyone was surprised at my 'transformation.'

"You mean you can change your flimsy armour at will?" Nuparu asked, excited.

"It's not armour. It's...okay, whatever. I just wanted to be a little warmer, that's all."

Nuparu looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but since everyone else was leaving, we had to hurry or risk being left behind. Kopaka and Matoro were joining our little group, which wasn't so little anymore. When I asked Matoro if it was okay for him to be leaving his job with Nuju like this, he told me that Nuju had told him it was okay. "I never get any breaks anyway," he explained as we walked, "and he said, 'if people aren't going to make the effort to understand me they aren't worth talking to.' And it's not like I have to shadow him all the time. That would really stink."

"Why do you want to come with us, anyway?" I asked, threading a small chain that I'd grabbed on my trip home through the small loop at the top of the Pendant. I figured that if it was a Pendant, it should be worn around the neck.

"I'm just going as far as Po-Koro. I haven't seen Hewkii in forever, but crossing the plains alone doesn't sound like much fun, so it just works out, I guess."

"What about the ice cube up there?"

Matoro glanced up at Kopaka, who was leading the way down the mountain path. "I don't know. He's usually the most antisocial of all the Toa, so I really don't know why he just up and decided to join in on this quest. Maybe he likes you."

"Please. It's Kopaka. From what I've gathered, he doesn't like anybody."

Up ahead, Kopaka sneezed. The Japanese have this superstition that someone's talking about you if you sneeze, so I quickly changed the subject in case the Matoran had a superstition like that too. "So the Toa values...what were they again?"

I immediately felt like smacking my head off something. Bad topic. Matoro didn't seem to notice, though, and said happily, "Unity, Duty, and Destiny. You know, you could be considered an honourary Toa."

Takanuva, who had apparently been listening in, piped up. "Yeah! You totally have the unity part down pat, cuz you're working with like everyone here!"

"And you never sway from your duty to the Toa Ihar," Matoro added. I silently prayed no one would mention the last one, but I knew it was futile.

"And I think we all know your destiny," Taka finished.

"STOP!" I yelled, clapping my hands over my ears. Everyone stopped and turned to look at me, looking confused. "I don't want to hear it! I don't want you to tell me I have a destiny! I can't deal with that. I don't believe in destiny!"

There was silence for a moment. I opened my eyes, not realizing that I'd squeezed them shut, and saw Takanuva with a serious look on his face. After a moment, he said, "Sit down for a minute," very quietly, taking me by the arm and leading me to a rock (well, we had just passed the Ko-Wahi/Po-Wahi border, so rocks were in abundance). He sat me down. "I'm going to tell you a story, and you're going to listen without interrupting. Got that?"

I nodded, somewhat bewildered by his reaction. Serious Taka was kind of scary.

"Once, there was a Matoran named Takua." I heard muttering from the Matoran behind him, but he pressed on. "Takua was very irresponsible, and he didn't like working very much. On Metru Nui, he was constantly being dragged back to work by the Vahki law enforcers." I was tempted to ask what a Vahki was, but the look on his face said 'don't.' "On Mata Nui, his irresponsibility was almost legendary. One day, when he was supposed to be on his way to a kholii match, he was instead hopping across a path of stones spanning a river of lava to look at a stone totem. He found an item called the Kanohi Avohkii, the Mask of Light." He reached up and brushed his fingers across the mask he wore—the mask that I assumed was the Mask of Light. "The finder of the mask was supposed to be the Herald of the Seventh Toa, the Toa of Light. But Takua didn't want the responsibility, so he dumped it on his best friend, Jaller. Jaller managed to get Takua to come with him in his search anyway, so it was kind of futile.

"Takua and Jaller wandered all over the island, searching for the seventh Toa. Makuta didn't make it easy, though; he sent his minions, the Rahkshi, after them to try and stop them. Finally, at Kini-Nui, Takua didn't want to run away from his destiny anymore, so he told Jaller to give him the mask so they wouldn't hurt his friend. But Jaller intercepted a killing strike meant for Takua."

There was a brief silence. I didn't know what to say. Then he continued. "As Jaller was dying, he told Takua that he himself really was the Herald. 'You know who you are,' he said, handing him the mask. Takua donned the mask and became Takanuva, the Toa of Light."

"Whoa! Hold on a second!" I jumped up and started waving my arms around. "You're Takua? That's—but—I...and hang on, Jaller's right there!" I pointed at Jaller. "What, did you magically come back to life or something?"

Jaller blinked. "Wow, how'd you figure it out?"

I stared. "You're kidding."

Takanuva forced me to sit down again. "How that happened isn't important. What is important is that Takua tried to ignore his destiny, and all that happened was that his best friend died. You can't deny destiny what it wants, Kay. You have to accept it, or bad things will happen." He glanced at the Ta-Matoran. "Jaller and I are living proof of that."

"But...but you were wrong! Your destiny wasn't to be the Herald, it was to be the Toa of Light! What if we're all wrong about me and my destiny? Just because I happen to be on the same 'wavelength' or whatever with the Toa Ihar doesn't mean I'm qualified to be a hero!"

Taka didn't have an answer for that, but Kahiki did. "You are qualified, Kay. You wouldn't have been able to find three artefacts in one day if you weren't."

"Shut up, Kahiki!" I snapped at him, grabbing the Pendant around my neck. "I don't want this! I never wanted any of it! Just...leave me alone!" I ripped the Pendant off and threw it on the ground before turning and running like hell.

* * *

"Kay, come back!" Takanuva yelled, starting to go after her. Kopaka reached out an arm to stop him. "Kopaka, what are you doing? She can't run off alone! She'll get lost, or die, or..."

"Takanuva," Kopaka said quietly, "I am not the most social of Toa. I am often off on my own. I know this is difficult for you to understand, since you _are_ a very social person, but sometimes one needs time to oneself when surrounded by people. Kay must be one such individual."

"But she's alone, and scared, in a place she doesn't know!"

Kopaka gazed in the direction she had gone. "No, Takanuva. She is not alone."

* * *

I don't know where I was planning on going, but I somehow ended up on a flat, dusty plain. "Where am I?" I asked no one in particular.

"I think it's Po-Wahi," Onako's voice said. I jumped; I'd forgotten that the three of them were still with me. Then I sat down and started to cry.

"Kay! Kay, what's wrong?" came Brelx's worried voice.

I couldn't answer her, even if I'd wanted to. Finally, I managed to sniffle, "This never would have happened if everyone didn't keep spouting about destiny all the time!"

There was an awkward silence, punctuated by my muffled sobs. Brelx spoke up again after a minute. "Kay, why does it bother you so much?"

"I don't know," I replied miserably. "I just...I want to be in control of me. Is that so much to ask?"

"Well then tell them that," Onako said. "If you just flip out, they won't understand. They're your friends. They'll understand."

I chewed my lip. Friends? Was I really friends with the Toa and Matoran? The answer came even quicker than the question. They were the best friends a girl could ask for.

"We used to fight all the time," Brelx added. "The Toa Ihar, I mean. And over the dumbest things! Like who had a cooler weapon or which Rahi was the best. But we never really meant it. Friends do that sometimes."

"I fought with Kahiki all the time," Prolan grumbled. "We fought over Brelx. He won."

I barely registered that when I shrieked. "Kahiki! Oh, he's going to kill me!"

"How's he going to do that from this distance?"

"I have to get back!" I turned and started running towards where I'd left the group.

* * *

"Kopaka, why do we have to wait here?" Taka grumbled, pacing back and forth.

Kopaka didn't say anything, and Taka scowled and went back to pacing. Jaller and the other Matoran were sitting quietly, not doing much. They knew that Kopaka was waiting for Kay to come back, but since it had been hours since she'd run off, their hopes were getting slimmer and slimmer.

Kahiki, too, was getting worried. _What if she was eaten or kidnapped or something?_ he thought. _It would be all my fault!_

Kopaka had his own reasons to be worried. He wasn't showing his worry of course, but he was still concerned. His thoughts were bordering on the _What if I never see her again?_ variety. Every time he tried to shake them off, they'd come back to haunt him. Finally, when Takanuva asked for the fifty-seventh time why they were waiting there, he snapped, "Patience is the fourth hidden Toa virtue, Takanuva! I suggest you learn it soon!"

"Hey, look!" Matoro suddenly said, jumping up and pointing.

Sure enough, there was Kay, huffing and puffing her way towards them. Kopaka leapt up and enveloped her in a very uncharacteristic hug. "Don't ever do that again," he whispered, with raw emotion in his voice.

Kay looked shocked. "Um, Kopaka, you're crushing my ribs..."

He quickly regained his composure and let go, straightening. His face burned. "I apologise, Kay, I don't know what came over me."

"Th-that's okay," she mumbled, looking down. "I...I'm sorry I ran off like that. I needed to sort out my feelings." She looked everyone in the eye. "Just...please don't talk about destiny too much. I like to think I'm in control, not someone else. Is that okay?"

"Yes!" everyone chorused, rushing forward to hug her.

Kopaka was the exception. He was staring at his hands, wondering what had made him want to do that. _Has something taken over my mind?_

Then he handed Kay the Pendant, and she shrieked "KAHIKI!" and hugged it to her chest. Kopaka allowed himself a brief smile. She lit up his world better than a thousand Toa of Light ever could. Then he shook off the illogical thought and simply watched as everyone crowded Kay.

* * *

Takanuva clapped his hands together. "Righto, then, I suppose we'd better start to set up camp for tonight."

I frowned. "But we don't have any tents or anything."

Now Takanuva frowned. "What's a tent?"

I gaped at him. "No way. You don't even have tents."

"What's a tent?" he repeated. "Actually, that doesn't matter. It's some kind of human thing, right?"

"Yep."

"Thought so. Anyway, we just need a sheltered area and possibly some leaves or something." Looking around, he pointed to a rocky outcropping a ways to the left. "That's good. We'll sleep under there, though, since it's Po-Wahi, I think we're out of luck on the leaves."

"Do you guys actually sleep?" I asked. "I mean, you're robot monster things. Do robots need to sleep?"

"Duh. Of course we do," said Jaller. "Why wouldn't we?"

"Oh, nothing, it's just that I wouldn't think that robots would have any need to sleep."

We walked over to the outcropping, which was just tall enough for the Toa to stand up comfortably. Kopaka was keeping his oath of silence, and I think it had something to do with trying to crush every fiber of my being in a bear hug.

Kongu curled up in the corner, nearest to the edge of the rock. "Stupid Po-Wahi," he muttered. "Doesn't even have any high-trees. Or even water-yuck. Better water-yuck than rock-dust."

"Kongu, go to sleep. We'll head out for the next artefact in the morning," said Takanuva, lying down. "Kopaka, you've got first watch." Kopaka (still) said nothing. "I'll take that as acknowledgement. Well, goodnight, guys."

A chorus of "Goodnights" and "See you in the mornings" came from the Matoran around. "And good night, Mr. Chatterbox," said Takanuva. Kopaka walked away.

"Good night, Kay," said Takanuva. "Sleep well."

Easier said than done. Thoughts whirled around my head, but I managed to supress them. I breathed deeply. "Good night, Taka." Then, amazingly, I fell asleep.


	11. Hide Every Akilini Disk

**Holycowit'sanupdate! Yaaaaaaay! We finally got our butts in gear and finished chapter 11!  
The Good News: Update!  
The Better News: We have a deadline! We want this done by May, hopefully.  
The Best News: We have an outline! We know exactly what we want to happen and when it's going to happen. We never do this. Be proud. :D  
The Bad News: We...only got one chapter written. But as long as _someone_ starts checking his email more often, we should be able to write more often and update more frequently. (This means you, PB86!)  
Thanks for waiting! Enjoy Chapter 11! (The title makes sense once you read the chapter)**

Chapter 11: Hide Every Akilini Disk

The lens on Kopaka's mask whirred as he peered into the darkness. Nothing that he could see. Of course, he didn't have Onua's or Whenua's night vision, but he did have a telescopic lens, x-ray vision, and excellent hearing.

This hearing now alerted him that Takanuva was approaching as quietly as possible. The Ice Toa allowed him to get within about three meters, then said, "Since it is not yet time to change the watch, I assume you are here to attempt to engage me in conversation."

The footfalls stopped. Kopaka didn't need to see the youngest Toa to know that he was pouting. "How do you do that?"

Kopaka shrugged and turned to face Taka. "What do you want?"

The Toa of Light created a glow around a few rocks so they could see each other, then sat on the ground and gestured for Kopaka to do the same. He remained standing, his eyepiece widened slightly in what would be on any other Toa a raised mask ridge. Taka sighed . "Okay, what do you think of Kay?"

That was not the question he had expected. "What do you mean?"

"Do you like her? Or liiiiiiiiiiiike her?"

Another shrug. "She is...perplexing. At times she seems like you or Lewa...others, like Gali or Onua. She's just so...different."

Takanuva nodded wisely. "Ah, I see. You _liiiiiiiiiiiike_ her." Kopaka had no idea what he was talking about, and indicated so with a slight head movement. Taka picked up on this and stood, holding his brother firmly by the shoulders. "You. Are in love. With Kay."

He almost laughed at that. Almost. "Don't be absurd," he muttered, shrugging him off. "If you came here to annoy and distract me, then you've done your job. Now go away."

"But Ko—"

Kopaka fixed his one-eyed icy glare on him. "Now."

Taka quickly obliged. But the idea had been planted, and Kopaka couldn't get it out of his head.

* * *

When I woke up, I was stiff and sore. Two nights of sleeping on hard floor/ground and two days of way more exercise than I'm used to will do that. It was barely light out, but Hahli and Matoro were already up, chatting away.

"Morning, Kay!" Matoro chirped when he saw me. I mumbled a reply and slouched over to them. Kopaka was up, too, and I couldn't help but wonder if he'd been on guard duty all night. He was standing apart from the Matoran, but he was looking at me.

Kahiki chose that moment to pipe up. "Kay, we're heading to Po-Koro, right?"

I nodded, then remembered that he couldn't see that. "Uh, yeah, I mean, no one knows Po-Wahi better than the Po-Matoran, right?"

"Hewkii's good at that!" Matoro said. "I'm sure he'd help us!"

"And Toa Pohatu!" Hahli added.

I nodded. "Well, I guess we should set out as soon as everyone's up. How long does it take to get to Po-Koro from here?"

They both shrugged. "I'm not from around here," Hahli said.

"And I don't get out much because of my job. Sorry," Matoro apologised.

I looked over at Kopaka. "Do you know?"

He shrugged. "About half a day."

"B-but it didn't take nearly that long every other time!"

"It just seemed that way because you were unconscious half the time," Taka commented, walking over. "That, or someone used a Mask of Speed."

"Not. Helping. If we want to get to Po-Koro and find the next artefact today, we'd better get going!" My stomach growled, and I blushed. "Oh. Right. Food."

"Here." Taka handed me a slightly glowing blue fruit.

"Um...thanks? Wh-whoa!" The last part was because as I held it, I felt a surge of energy rush through me. When it dissipated, I wasn't sore or hungry anymore. "Wha-what is this thing?"

"It's a Bula fruit. They give you energy when you hold them," he explained, handing one each to Matoro and Hahli. "I picked some on our way out of Le-Wahi yesterday; I figured we'd need them."

"And you didn't mention this earlier because...?"

"You never said you needed one."

"_I didn't know they existed!_"

By this point, everyone else was up, so we shared around the Bula fruit and headed on our way.

We'd been walking and talking for about half an hour when I brought up something that had been bothering me for the past little while. "Kahiki," I said slowly, "you don't give me powers of telepathic communication with Rahi, do you?"

"Of course not! My specialties are teleportation and strength!"

"See, that's what I thought. But then why could I hear the Kane-Ra's thoughts in Ko-Koro that time? I always assumed it was something to do with you."

"See? It's your des..." Onako trailed off. I assumed he was either remembering the events of the previous day or that my death glare actually got through for once. "I mean, that's why Kahiki could bring you here—because you already had some sort of connection with animals. It must have amplified when you and our fire brother here connected."

"I'll buy that." I clapped my hands together. "So hey, should I be, I don't know, practising my powers, maybe? Just in case anything happens? Plus, I'll need to be good at them to fight whatever's guarding the next artefact."

"Good idea," Jaller said, nodding sagely. I got the feeling he liked to act smarter than he was sometimes, and especially in front of a pretty blue-armoured Ga-Matoran who shall remain nameless (*cough* Hahli *cough*). "It's always good to be prepared." I resisted the urge to burst out laughing; I got a mental image of Scar from _The Lion King_ with Jaller's face singing "Be prepared!"

"Jaller should know," Taka tossed back from his point near the front of the group. "As Captain of the Ta-Koro guard, it was rare to find him doing anything else when he was off-duty!"

Jaller looked hurt. "Hey, come on, I played kholii and went lava surfing!"

"Only when I dragged you away and made you."

"You make it sound like you were the responsible one. Who had to go searching for who most of the time because _someone_ decided that he'd rather explore lava caves than record the Wall of History?"

I decided I didn't want to know. "Okay, anyway, let's see. I can't exactly practise strength, speed or teleportation, and I'm not too bad with teleportation anyway. I'd have to hurt myself to practice healing, so that's out, and Brelx's other power...wait, what is your other power?" I asked my ankle.

"Healing and summoning."

"Summoning?"

"Yes, summoning Rahi to your aid."

"Like what?"

"Well, if you need help in a battle, you can summon Rahi to aid you."

"That's handy."

"Not necessarily. I mean, you could end up summoning something you can't control."

"You should practise something safer first, like flying," Prolan suggested.

"Oh yes," Kahiki said sarcastically. "That is so much safer."

"Especially for someone with severe height-phobia," I added.

"That's actually called acrophobia," said Kopaka.

Everyone looked at him. I hadn't realised he was even listening. "How do you know that?" Taka demanded.

Kopaka fixed his one-eyed gaze on him. "I know everything." I blinked. Did he just make a joke? The apocalypse is nigh! Then again, this _was_ Kopaka we were talking about. Coming from him, "I know everything" is actually pretty plausible.

"Just give it a try," Prolan pleaded. "You don't have to go very high. Come on, please?"

I sighed. "Fine. Happy?" Not bothering to wait for a reply, I took a deep breath and jumped—

And crashed right into Kongu. "Sorry," I muttered, getting up.

"No problem," he grumbled. "I'm ever-used to everything bad happening to me now."

"You have to believe," Prolan chided. "Believe you can fly!"

"Anyone got any pixie dust?" I asked sarcastically. "I suppose I should think happy thoughts and sing, too?"

"Sing? How would that help?"

"Never mind." I tried to concentrate, which is difficult when everyone's staring at you expectantly (besides Kopaka, who was watching with bored disdain). I decided to try a running start this time, and promptly tripped over a rock. "Dang it, I scraped my knee," I muttered, sitting up and rolling my sweatpants up.

"Oh! My job!" Brelx said, and the scrape disappeared.

I sighed. "Thanks. No offense, Prolan, but I think I'll wait until we're not out in the open anymore before I try this again." I could practically hear him pouting. "Stop that."

"We heading on?" Nuparu asked.

I nodded, standing up. "Let's get to Po-Koro before anything else bad happens."

* * *

Ten minutes later, we were running for our lives from a possessed evil robot tiger. Most of us were screaming. Kopaka and Matoro weren't.

See, Onako had decided that it would be a good idea if I tried using Brelx's summoning power. And of course, the closest Rahi just happened to be an infected Muaka (which was what the evil robot tiger was called). Matoro wasn't screaming because apparently he hunts these things, and Kopaka...well, have you ever seen Spock scream (besides in the third movie)? Same with this guy.

"Do something!" I yelled at the two Toa.

"Well, we can't hurt it," Taka protested.

Kopaka's response was "You summoned it, you deal with it."

"YOU GUYS ARE COMPLETELY USELESS!" I screamed.

Kongu stopped screaming long enough to shout, "See this, this is why I hate wild Rahi-beasts!"

"There's Po-Koro," Jaller panted, pointing. "We can get Toa Pohatu to help us there."

"Oh, forget it," I muttered, turning and firing a laser at its mask. The mask fell off, and I guess it singed the face underneath it, because the Muaka was still mad. "Oh, this is ridiculous!" I yelled, turning and running again.

"Brother Feren and his taming powers would be really useful right now," Brelx sighed.

"You aren't the one about to be eaten!" I reminded her. "I don't think the Muaka is in the mood for a nice juicy bit of anklet."

Kopaka suddenly turned around and fired an ice bolt at the tiger. It froze immediately, like one of those frozen mammoth things you see in museums in cartoons. Then he turned and walked away without a word.

"Why didn't you just do that in the first place?" I asked incredulously.

"I thought you would take care of it," he said icily. "I see that I was wrong."

I couldn't think of anything to say, so I just glowered at him the rest of the way to Po-Koro.

"It's okay," Matoro said, patting my arm. "He's always like that."

"Yeah," Hahli added. "He's a loner, so it's hard for him, being in a big group all the time."

I didn't say anything. I just kept up the glare.

* * *

Taka had to jog to catch up with his ice brother. "Kopaka, what the Kharzani is wrong with you?"

"If you want a fate similar to that of that Muaka, then by all means, keep talking," Kaopaka snapped.

The Toa of Light ignored that. "Look, if this is about what I said last night, then don't worry about it. There's nothing wrong with being in love with—"

"Shut up."

Takanuva was so shocked by the uncharacteristic response that he actually stopped walking. "Kopaka, what—?"

"I said shut up," he growled, his voice low. "I am not in love with anyone—least of all her! She annoys me. She makes me feel strange, and I don't like it. She constantly insults those around her—"

"So do you," Taka pointed out.

If looks could kill, everyone within about a ten kio radius would have been frozen solid by Kopaka's glare. "And she can't even fight properly. In short, she's everything that I hate. Now go away." He stalked off.

Taka waited a moment, letting what Kopaka had said sink in. Finally, he called after him, "Why did you come along then?"

The Toa Nuva of Ice stopped for the briefest of seconds before ignoring the query and continuing towards his brother's desert home. But the pause was enough to make a smirk of victory flash across Taka's mask.

* * *

When we finally arrived at Po-Koro, we found an old guy (who I assumed was a Turaga) waiting for us. He bowed. "Hello, Toa," he greeted Kopaka and Taka. He gave the Matoran a smile and nodded at me, then addressed everyone. "Pohatu is waiting for you all at the kholii field. He says he's found something that may aid Kay's quest."

We thanked him and headed in the direction that Taka said the kholii field was in. There was Pohatu, kicking around some ball-shaped rocks with a few Matoran. One got hit in the face and flew back a few feet, but he got right back up again with a grin and a whoop.

"These guys sure are...hardy," I commented.

"They live in a desert," Taka said. "They kind of have to be."

"They're like deranged soccer fans or something."

"What's soccer?" Nuparu asked.

"Never mind."

By this point, Pohatu had noticed us, and he came over, waving and shouting at his brothers. He was followed by one of the Matoran, who the others introduced to me as 'Hewkii.' So that was who Matoro had come to see. While Hewkii was asking Hahli about someone named 'Macku,' I turned to Pohatu.

"The Turaga guy said you had something that could help," I explained.

"Oh, right! See, I was cleaning out the Suva a few days ago, and I found this." He pulled a large and heavy-looking stone tablet seemingly from out of nowhere and handed it to me. I was right—it was _really_ heavy. Instead of trying to hold it, I set it on the ground and squatted in front of it. There were a bunch of circles with lines and more circles inside them carved into it.

"I have no idea what this means," I said.

"You mean they don't have written language in your world?" Hewkii asked, surprised. "What kind of primitive society are you from?"

"Says the one who kicks rocks around for fun," I muttered. "We do have written language, several, in fact. It's just different from this."

"It says 'Free In Rock. Exploding Tables On Apples. Hide Every Akilini Disk."

There was a pause.

Eventually, Kongu spoke up. "What the Karzahni does that say-mean?"

"Kongu!" Hahli snapped. "Watch your language."

I wasn't going there.

"Oh boy! A riddle!" Taka said happily. He turned to Kopaka. "You love riddles!"

Kopaka fixed his one-eyed glare on him. "No, actually, I don't."

"Well, the Rock could be anything," Matoro said thoughtfully. "I mean, this is Po-Wahi, after all, which has tons of rocks. But 'Free In Rock?' What could that mean?"

"How about the Akilini Disks?" Jaller piped up. "Maybe someone's going around stealing Akilini Disks and people need to be hiding them away so they don't get taken."

Matoro shook his head. "No, that's too obvious. Plus, this stone looks like it was carved a really long time ago, so if it was about a thief, wouldn't he or she have been caught by now?"

"Maybe, but not necessarily," Jaller countered. "And what about the Apples? What are 'Apples,' anyway?"

"A kind of fruit from my world," I explained, still squatting in the dirt.

"That means that whoever wrote it was probably from your world, too," said Jaller. "Or had at least visited it."

While the two of them tried to talk it out, I started writing it down in the dirt in English with a convenient rock. (Come on, it was Po-Koro. All the rocks are convenient.) Maybe if I could see it in something I could understand, it would help me solve the puzzle. _Free...In...Rock...Exploding...Tables...wait a second._

I started madly scribbling. Pohatu noticed and asked, "Kay, what are you doing?"

"I think I've got it," I said, excited. "If you take the first letter of each word, it spells something. I think that's called 'acrostic' or something."

"Well, what's it say?" Hewkii asked.

"Just a second. Uh...it says 'Fire Toa Head.'"

There was another pause. "Well what the...uh...what does that say-mean?" Kongu asked again, shooting a nervous glance Hahli's way.

"Wait." Taka turned to Pohatu. "The quarry we found the infected Comet balls in—is that still around?"

Pohatu looked as confused as I felt, but apparently for different reasons. "Yeah, but Gali's head is completely gone."

"Okay, what?" I asked.

"See, back when I was Takua, I travelled the island going on adventures," Taka explained. "One time, Po-Koro was falling under this weird plague thing. It turned out it was because of these really popular kholii balls called 'Comets,' and I kind of discovered where they were coming from by accident. Then I got attacked by a Nui-Jaga, and Toa Pohatu came and we kicked its butt."

"Technically, I kicked its butt," Pohatu said.

"Yeah, but you were blind so I had to tell you where its butt was so you could kick it. Anyway, they were in what the Po-Matoran call the Quarry, which has a bunch of statues of all the Toa's heads in it. The Comet balls were in Gali's head, which ended up being destroyed, but the others should be fine. I'll bet one of the artefacts is in Tahu's head!"

Kopaka muttered something about Tahu's head and air, but I didn't catch all of it. "Well, what are we waiting for? Which way is the quarry?" I asked, standing up.

"I know how to get there!" said Taka. "I think."

I glanced at Jaller, who shook his head. "Oh, no. I remember the last time you tried to lead me somewhere. It took me months to get that Gukko shell out of my—"

"I can show you," Hewkii interrupted. "I know the way."

"Oh, great," Jaller said, relieved. "I'm not following you anywhere," he told Taka, who stuck his tongue out at him.

And so we ended up following Hewkii along a stone-covered (in Po-Wahi? No way) pathway. About five minutes along, we came to a crossroad, with another Po-Matoran there fixing up some signs that I couldn't read. Hewkii greeted him, but apparently he didn't want to chat. "Another Hafu original," I heard him mutter as we passed.

Ten minutes later, we still hadn't gotten to the Quarry. "Hewkii," I said nervously, "no offense, but are you sure you know the way?"

"Don't sweat it! I've been this way lots of times!"

I looked back at the other Matoran. Jaller and Kongu were okay, but it looked like Hahli, Nuparu, and Matoro had seen better days. Then I noticed Kopaka, lagging behind the rest of the group. The poor guy looked like he was melting. I wandered back to him.

"Hey," I said. He looked down at me. "You okay? You look like you're going to keel over."

"I...will be fine," he panted. "I am simply...unused to the heat." He stumbled and caught himself on me. I let him lean on me. Hey, the guy saved islands for a living. He could afford to need help every now and then. Plus, he was actually really cool, and I wasn't too used to the heat either. (Sure, it's cold in Canada, but not in the summer, and it was summer when I left.)

"Hewkii," I called up to the front. "Is there anywhere cool we can take a breather?"

I half expected him to say no, but he replied, "Inside of Toa Kopaka's statue is very cool. We can stop there if you like."

I nodded. "Good idea, thanks. How long until we get there?"

"We're here!"

We passed into a sort of valley and stopped in the shade of one of the walls. Taka had been right—there were tons of statues of heads around, but...

"Wait," I said. "I've met the Toa. They don't look anything like this."

"Oh, see, this is what they used to look like," Hewkii explained. "About half a year ago, the Toa went through a transformation, giving them the forms they have now." I glanced at Kopaka, who was still leaning on me a little. Hewkii pointed. "That one is Toa Kopaka's."

"Great," Taka said enthusiastically. I noticed he'd been giving Kopaka and me odd looks. Weirdo. "How do we get in? I needed a special key thing to get into Gali's."

"Oh, it's no problem," Hewkii said. "There's a special button around here somewhere..." He began looking around. "Now, where is it?"

I studied the masks surrounding us. Now that I thought of it, Kopaka's statue looked a lot like Matoro's mask. And there was one that looked like Jaller's, and Kongu's, and Nuparu's, and Hewkii's. I didn't know what Gali's looked like since it was ever so slightly dinged (a.k.a. completely totalled), but I had a sneaking suspicion it looked like Hahli's. That was slightly creepy. I wondered if one day these guys might be Toa. _Nah,_ I thought. _That only happens in books._

"Found it!" Hewkii called, pressing one of the circles around Kopaka's eyepiece. How he managed to get up there I'll never know. Suddenly the ground started to shake, and most of us (except Kopaka, of course) fell on our butts. The area directly under Kopaka's statue fell away, revealing stairs down to...somewhere. Hewkii scrambled down and waved us over. "Come on!" he said. "It's perfectly safe, unless some Rahi's taken up residence in there. Then we should probably run."

"Um, hello?" I said. "What part of 'Rahi Warrior' don't you get?"

"Oh, yes," Kahiki grumbled. I jumped; I'd actually completely forgotten about him and the other Toa Ihar. They'd been so uncharacteristically quiet! "Because that worked so well the last time you tried to get the Rahi to listen to you."

"Hey, I was having an off day!"

"It's still the same day," Onako pointed out.

"Shush." I ignored the snickering Toa Ihar and followed the Matoran.

Hewkii hadn't been kidding when he said the cave under Kopaka's statue was cold. For a brief moment I thought we'd been magically transported to Ko-Wahi—and at this point, it wouldn't surprise me at all. But we were definitely still in Po-Wahi; I could see the sand where it had been tracked in by visitors (namely, us). I glanced at Kopaka, who was looking much better already. He caught my eye and nodded once, then looked away again. I guess he just couldn't bring himself to say thanks, especially when he'd chewed me out before about the Muaka.

"You're welcome," I said anyway.

We spent another few minutes in there, until Jaller made a point of telling us exactly what body parts were about to fall off from the cold. Then we booked it out of there pretty fast.

"So which one is Tahu's, and how do we get in?" I asked Hewkii.

He pointed to the one that looked like Jaller's. "That's Toa Tahu's statue, but I don't know how to get in. I've never been in that one because I could never figure out how." He led us over and pointed to some indentations in the ground near the statue. "It looks like you're supposed to fit something into them, but I can't quite figure out what."

"Hey, what're we looking at?" Prolan asked. "I can't see."

I pulled the Gem out of my pocket. "How about now?"

"Kay, I don't have eyes. Describe it to me."

"Well, it's a hole, about the size of my fist, but it's not round, it's more like something with a lot of little sides to it..." I trailed off, looking at the dodecahedron-shaped Gem in my hand. "Oh, you've got to be kidding."

"What? What?" Prolan asked.

Ignoring him, I put the Gem into the hole. Almost immediately, nothing happened. "Well," Taka said, "that was—"

He was cut off by the rumble that was heard when the doorway to the cavern underneath Tahu's head fell away. (That's not a sentence you hear every day.) I glanced at him triumphantly. "You were saying?"

Taka mumbled something about smart-aleck teenagers and led the way down.

The first thing I noticed was the complete absence of any sentient beings guarding the Ring. It was just sitting there, on a pedestal similar to the ones I'd found the other artefacts on, in the middle of the room. "This is totally a trap," I said.

"Either that," Kongu said, "or whoever got the task-job of away-hiding this one was lazy-tired."

"Actually, neither."

We all jumped at the mysterious voice coming from the other side of the room. A tall freakazoid who looked like a cross between a gorilla and a woolly mammoth walked across the room to the pedestal in the centre. It stopped and regarded us the same way a lion looks at a scared gazelle that knows its end is near. "I am the Protector," it said. It should've been hard to hear him because of the huge tusks coming out of his face, but his voice boomed through the cavern loud and clear. "Your task, Warrior, is very simple: you must take the Ring."

We waited, in case there was more. There wasn't. "You're kidding," I said. "That's it? Just walk up there and take the ring from the rock?"

"Well, not exactly."

"Ah-ha! I knew there was more to it!" Prolan crowed proudly.

"There is a puzzle you must solve to get to the Ring," the Protector continued, as though Prolan hadn't spoken (which, to everyone else, he hadn't). "All across this cave are invisible walls. You must find your way through the invisible maze and take the Ring. Upon your taking it, the walls will vanish and you will be allowed to leave safely, life and limb intact."

"That doesn't sound too—"

"Of course," he interrupted, "if you fail to do so within five minutes, you will die."

"Scratch that," I said. "That sounds _really_ hard."

"And you have to leave your other artefacts with your friends at the entrance."

"Oh for crying out loud," I grumbled, removing them and handing them to Taka. "If you break them," I told him, "you are so dead."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered as I turned to face the cavern.

I walked forward and almost immediately met with a wall. "Well, that was a complete waste of time."

It took me three minutes of my precious time to get halfway across the room. There was no way I could make it in two, especially when almost every time I turned around, I was stuck behind another invisible wall.

Then it hit me. "You're changing the maze around!" I snapped at the Protector.

"I assure you, I'm doing nothing of the sort," it said evenly. "The maze shifts and moves according to you."

"According to me?" Now I was really confused. I looked back at the entrance, but was met only with confused shrugs and stares. "Well, if it moves however I want it to..." I tried to walk forward, but was met with another wall. After a few choice swear words, I turned back to the Protector. "Any more cryptic clues or anything, you know, helpful?" I asked.

It just shook its head and smiled. Which was really creepy on its face. I mean, it was a gorilla-mammoth hybrid! What kind of twisted freak makes something like that?

I forced myself to return to the task at hand. If it moved according to me, but not my will, what else could it be? I thought and thought. Apparently, I thought for too long, because the Protector said, "You have less than one minute now, Warrior. Cross the room and take the Ring, or face death. The choice is yours."

Of course, I started to panic. I ran to the right and immediately hit a wall. _It's like I'm boxed in!_ I thought. I turned around and immediately hit another one. And another one. And another one. I was surrounded!

And then it hit me for real. "There is no maze," I said. "It was all just a trick!" To prove it, I raced towards the pedestal. Nothing stopped me, not even the Protector. Grabbing the ring, I jammed it on my finger and whirled to face the Protector. "Ha! I win!"

"Not quite."

My shoulders drooped. "You've got to be kidding me."

Its eyes flashed. "I don't kid. You took exactly two point six eight three seconds too long. Regrettably, you must be terminated."

* * *

**We're so evil. Until next time, please review! Constructive criticism is always appreciated (but please refrain from threatening to bash our heads in, etc. if we don't update soon).**


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